


Modern Romance

by Lavenderkushkiss



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Drug Use, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Jojen is a stoner, Marijuana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 21:46:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 47,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1873671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavenderkushkiss/pseuds/Lavenderkushkiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arya and her Little brothers Bran and Rickon form a band after their parents died and they're trying to participate in a battle of the bands type music tour that travels all through Westeros. They too young to participate but it doesn't stop them and soon shenanigans ensue. Inspiration comes in many forms as they chase their dreams and bring havoc down on the music scene of Westeros. Lots of music reference as this story is heavily inspired by music.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The characters and world belong to the wonderful George R. R. Martin and the songs belong to the immortal geniuses that are the Arctic Monkeys and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I own nothing I’m just a fan. I have this story stuck in my head and I can’t do anything else until I get it out. 
> 
> First song reference is Arctic Monkeys- Perhaps Vampires is a bit strong:  
> http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=SjzOUf0AEiQ
> 
> Second Song reference is Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Machine:  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMKvU5sqmEA

**Arya**  
  
"just let us play one song" She growled out through clenched teeth.  
  
'I’m getting too old for this' Yoren thought to himself as he ran his calloused hand through his greasy dark hair, messing up his half ponytail in the progress.  
  
"Listen Arya, you’re too young. I can't risk it if something happened to you and Lannister Insurance doesn't cover minors" Yoren said gruffly eyeing Bran, the thin pale teenager that was sitting in his wheelchair, warily.   
  
"Yoren! we have insurance of our own and we won't be any trouble I promise, just let us play one song for the audition and if we don't make the cut then we'll go back The Vale without any fuss" she knew she sounded desperate but she couldn't deny that she was, they had made it this far with no intention of turning back.   
  
Yoren sighed deeply and folded his hands on his desk leaning closer to the frantic fifteen year old girl in front of him. She looked just like her father, his old friend, but the girl version, he almost felt like he was trying to deny Eddard Stark.   
  
"Look I know how hard it was for you three to lose your parents. I had much respect for your father as a composer and your mother played the most beautiful cello in all of Westeros, not to mention they were some of my oldest friends in this business but what are you planning to get from this? Even if you do pass the audition process and get chosen for the Nights Watch Tour, it's still going to be a very difficult competition” he said carefully with his eyebrows furrowing together.

“We’re good enough to try, if my parents were still alive I doubt they would have a problem with this” Arya responded forcefully. 

“You're not yet 16, Bran is 14 and little Rickon is barely 12, even if you are tall for you age no one would believe you guys are the minimum age of 16. I doubt your Aunt Lysa has written you a permission note either." He was trying to be gentle with them, it was best they didn't go hurting themselves more than life already had.   
  
"Just let us play, we need to get out of there, we've already wasted 4 years in the Vale eating Aunt Lysa's all vegan, organic diet and dealing with my creepy step uncle who won't shut up about my dead mother! She home schools us, we can’t ever go anywhere. We are wilting up at that house in the middle of fucking nowhere. Music is in our blood, we've nearly gone mad practicing and getting better and we can't hold back any longer. We need this! There's nothing for us back there" she exclaimed breathlessly after her long rant with a mad look in her grey eyes and her uneven choppy brown hair sticking out in all directions.  
  
Yoren eyed each of them carefully, the youngest one stood patiently by his brother's wheel chair with his curly reddish brown hair messily hanging in front of his angry eyes, and they were all sickeningly pale and skinny. He hadn't given them much thought in the last four years and by the looks of them it didn't seem like anyone else had either. He had heard that Catelyn's sister was a natural health fanatic, but these kids looked like mere shadows of their former selves. He looked at Bran in the wheelchair again, remembering how fast this kid could climb a tree before a horrible car accident took away his parents and ability to walk.  
  
He sighed deeply again and shook his head in defeat.' I’m going to regret this' he thought to himself and wondered how his afternoon resulted in him being hassled by his dead friends youngest kids the day before his biggest, most complicated event of the year began.    
  
"Fine I'll let you sign up and audition on the condition that you don't tell anyone your age or names. That legal scandal your parents were involved in made headlines all over. We don't really need to start another one. Luckily they kept you three out of the spotlight so if you keep your mouths shut …then we should be fine. I’m not guaranteeing that you’ll can get in there are a lot of people hoping to get one of the ten available spots. "He said scrunching up his bushy eyebrows at them.  
  
The three of them smiled simultaneously and Arya jumped over the desk to give him a bear hug.  
  
"Thank you thank you thank you" she chanted before they all scrambled out of his office to go get ready for their new opportunity.   
  
"It starts at 12pm tomorrow don't be late!" He yelled and shook his head again thinking of his old friend.   
  
"Well Ned, let's see if your talent was genetic" he muttered to himself before returning to the mountain of work he had to finish before tomorrow.  
  
 **Bran**  
  
  
"I don't think I can eat it" Rickon said weakly, his voice slightly cracking as he stared at the heaping meat sandwich in front of him like it was a bleeding corpse.   
  
Arya and Bran exchanged a look and he held his hand out in triumph with a smirk. Arya rolled her eyes and handed him some crumpled money.  
  
"I told you Aunt Lysa's videos would fuck his head up the most" he said stashing the bill in his shoe before biting into his own sandwich, Arya did the same and they both groaned in delight as the sweet forbidden taste filled their mouths.   
  
"It's so good Rickon you have to just taste it, just taste the sweetness of death it's almost magical" Arya said giggling a little and staring at her food in a slightly maniacal trans.   
  
Rickon looked at his siblings like they were cannibals feasting on human flesh.    
  
"But that piece of meat was a living… breathing animal, it roamed happily in a field somewhere before it was led to slaughter and chopped up , slathered in spices and piled onto a loaf of bread for us to devour! It’s disgusting" he exclaimed passionately pushing the plate as far away from him as possible.

Their Aunt had a habit of showing them horrible animal slaughter videos on the internet to get them to not eat meat. Poor little Rickon had no chance, being only 7 when she had gotten custody of them. He even started having nightmares of a cannibal’s islands and frozen zombies.  
  
Bran watched Arya wordlessly picked up her knife and sliced Rickon's sandwich perfectly in half before putting a piece on his plate and taking the other for her.   
  
"At least eat the chips, they never had a pulse" Bran said pushing the plate back toward his brother.   
  
"Yeah you're gunna need your energy for tomorrow" Arya said through a full mouth.   
  
Bran gave her a narrowed look of disgust. Sometimes she could eat like a wild animal, sometimes worse.   
  
"Have you decided what song we’re going to play? We really only get one shot at this, The Nights Watch Tour may be fairly recent being only 5 years old but they do have certain standards because of the cash prizes involved" Bran said making a point to properly swallowed his food, to which Arya opened her mouth full of mutilated food at him tauntingly.   
  
"No, but I've narrowed it down to two" Arya said when she could formulate words again.   
  
"We only have 12 songs thought up, and we have to make up a new song every time we play somewhere, are you sure we’re ready for this?" Bran asked slightly worried. Yeah they had spent most of their time in the Vale practicing in the deep basement of their aunt’s house, but they had never performed in front of people, what if they all choked. Arya got a determined look on her face and put her sandwich down.   
  
"Don't worry, we're ready, we've been ready for years. We’re completely unknown so every song we play is new. This is our best shot for now, the sad truth is that there's nowhere in the Vale for us to play, it's like a bloody fortress out there, we come from a family of wolves we’re meant to roam free and howl" Arya said giving her brothers a reassuring smile which was met with flat stares. She rolled her eyes and focused on her food again, giving up her inspirational tirade.    
  
"Rickon you have to eat" Bran said changing the subject and giving his little brother a commanding stare.   
  
Rickon narrowed his eyes and cautiously lifted the golden fried potato stick up to his mouth and instantly  his baby blue eyes lit up at the taste.  
  
"This is amazing!" He said shoving five more into his mouth at once. He only received grunts in response.   
  
"Does this have those poisonous preservatives aunt Lysa always talks about?" Rickon commented through a mouth full of fries. Bran nodded affirmatively.    
  
"Mmmmm poison" Arya muttered between a few more animated bites.   
  
Ten minutes later they pushed their empty plates away from them in triumph. Feeling more satisfied than they could ever remember. Arya let out a loud belch causing them all to break down into an immature fit of laughs.   
  
"What if Aunt Lysa saw us now" Arya said through some giggles shaking her long choppy bangs out her eyes. The three of them snickered, it wasn't that they hated their Aunt she was just a little obsessively over protective and paranoid.    
  
"Do you think they got back from Lannisport already?" Bran said sipping his drink loudly through a straw.   
  
"Who cares " Arya grumbled as her stomach made a strange noise, the sudden introduction of meat after 4 years without it suddenly felt like a punch in the stomach, Bran knew because he could feel the same rumblings start in his own stomach.  
  
"Uncle Petyr said they were coming home tomorrow" Rickon replied stealing the rest of Arya's soda.   
  
"They'll notice the handi-van missing before they do us..." Arya said raising an eyebrow and pulling out the money to pay for their meal, but not before slamming her fist in her chest and burping loud enough to put a grown man to shame.  
  
"They won't think to come here to Kings Crossing though, if anything they'll call Jon up north in Castle Black to keep an eye out for us. They might think we ran off to Uncle Benjen’s at the Wall, or to Sansa in Kings Landing, they might even go so far as to notify the KGPD " Bran said taking out the bill he won earlier and leaving it under a cup for the waitress' tip.   
  
"They won't tell the Kings Guard Police, we don't go to school so they can’t arrest us for that. Aunt Lysa just has us copy and memorize medieval history and math text books and calls it homeschooling. At most she might make a phone call to a relative. That's why we have to rock those motherfuckers so hard they shit themselves tomorrow, then we can win, tour around for a while, get some cash and go to Braavos and live with Robb and play real music and live on our own terms" Arya said passionately standing up and raising her fist, causing the whole restaurant to look at them. Bran and Rickon slowly started moving away from their sister toward the door.   
  
The three of them had made it outside the small diner quickly and found themselves staring at the street. Late spring wind coursing through their signature dark auburn brown hair as the lanky trio of teenagers pondered their next move.   
  
"What do you think Robyn will say?" Bran said with a grin slowly spreading across his face.   
  
"Moomm why didn't they take me to runaway I wanna runaway too make them come back! But if we run away you have to come too moooooom!" Arya yelled over dramatically mocking their sheltered and spoiled cousin. They crumbled into fits of laughter.   
  
She then proceeded to mock him as they headed back to their van where they would be sleeping tonight, they were nearly crying through their laughter. If anything kept them sane after the death of their parents it was definitely Arya... Arya and music, but for them one didn't exist without the other.   
  
  
 **  
Gendry**  
  
"There's a lot more people trying to get in this year" Gendry muttered to himself when he stepped into the large hall where everyone was congregating. He had his guitar strapped to his back and amps in each hand and long cords wrapped around his neck.  
  
His band mates Lommy, Hot Pie and his little half-brother Edric followed him closely carrying as much equipment as they could handle.   
  
Gendry nodded his head toward the crowded table at the opposite end of the room and Lommy nodded in silent agreement as he piled his things onto Hot Pie and sauntered off toward the table.   
  
Gendry surveyed his competition carefully, seeing a few familiar faces and a lot that were unfamiliar. His eyes caught sight of a group of really young looking kids. Heads bent down to the floor, wearing all black, they looked unnaturally pale and gaunt but obviously related, one of them was sitting in a wheel chair.   
  
They looked ready to puke all over their instruments. ‘They don't stand a chance.’ He thought to himself cockily.   
  
"Hey Gendry can you stop looking for hot girls and help me with this shit" his large round friend growled as he tried to balance the expensive instruments in his arms delicately.   
  
"We both know hot girls won't participate in a sausage fest like this" Gendry retorted.

“Or would they?” Edric said nodding his head toward the tall red head marching through the room wrapped in a thick fur coat and glaring at everyone with piercing blue eyes.

“wow one out of like a hundre…did she just bare her teeth and growl?” Gendry said as they watched the woman intimidate every male around her.

“oh nope there’s another one, that makes it two” Edric said pointing out a short girl with short curly dark hair and brown eyes, she was standing next to a tall blond haired kid who’s smile seemed to never falter and had yet to remove his dark sunglasses.    


“Well that’s more than last year, anyway let’s give up the hunt and find a spot before hot pie passes out” Gendry said scouring the crowded room for an opening.

  
They unloaded in an empty space that Edric had spotted against a wall and Hot Pie slid into a sitting position; obviously already warn out while his brother tried to organize everything.   
  
"I'm going to get the rest stay here and don't let anyone wander off with our stuff, you still owe me a new amp from last year when you abandoned your post for a bag of crisps" Gendry said to Hot Pie making his way to the crowded parking lot.  
  
He found their car and started unloading more equipment when he heard a small shriek and some scuffling.  
  
Gendry followed the noise to investigate, rounding the corner he found a very thin girl with short choppy dark brown hair wearing a zip up black hoodie, impossibly tight black jeans and she was holding a small pocket knife to the neck of a pale man with dark hair and ice cold blue eyes. The man was looking down at the girl hungrily with a twisted smile, licking his lips as he slowly reached down to grab her ass.   
  
"Ramsey Bolton" Gendry growled out loudly before his hand to reach his destination. Gendry stepped forward menacingly as he recognized the sleazy lead singer of the band known as The Flayed, who carefully turned his head to look at him.   
  
"Get out of here Waters, this is a private conversation" he said through a sneer. The girl stepped away from Ramsey and she held out a small pointed blade in each hand making him wonder where she was about to stick the other blade.  
  
"You like picking up little girls now? Huh aren’t you still on probation for beating your last girlfriend into a coma?" Gendry said stepping closer to him taking the charcoal gray electric guitar off of his back. Ramsey cowered in his shadow. Gendry held his guitar in one hand and swung it around almost like a hammer.   
  
"My guitar loves to sing, I wonder how nice it would sound to smash it across your face. Taking down a woman beater would be a nice way to warm up don’t you think" Gendry said in a menacingly low voice. Ramsey gulped as he glared at him and retreated back into the maze of vehicles, blowing a kiss to the girl before he disappeared.  
  
"You all right?" He asked the girl who was slipping her foldable thin knives back into her jean pockets.   
  
She was very slender but somehow she didn't seem fragile. Her dark brown hair lay unevenly around her long neck and intense stormy gray eyes stared at him from behind long straight bangs. He recognized her from the group with the cripple, not even realizing that they even had a girl member in the band.   
  
She said something but he didn't catch it between his thoughts.   
  
"What?"   
  
"I said thanks but I could have taken care of that myself, I'm not a damsel in distress" she said boldly and a little louder than necessary.   
  
"Yeah well you’re a lady and you should stay away from that guy, he's known for being a misogynistic asshole" he said re-strapping his guitar back on his back.   
  
"I'm not a lady" she mumbled under her breath.   
  
She stared at him carefully, drinking in the image of his tall, muscularly lean form, short black hair that stuck out in all directions and impossibly dark blue eyes that glowed like sapphires. He could see her breath quicken nervously.    
  
"What's a kid like you doing here anyway?" He asked with a chuckle noticing the way she was eyeing him like a piece of meat.   
  
"I'm not a kid" she exclaimed furrowing her dark eyebrows together angrily.   
  
"You don't look a day over 13" he said with a chuckle. It wasn't necessarily true but he couldn't stop himself from trying to annoy her. She gave him a little shove, but he barely budged but noted that she was stronger than she looked.  
  
"I'm 18! I just look young because ... I'm vegan!" she said, he couldn't tell who she was trying to convince more, she or him, but he didn't question any further.   
  
"I'm Gendry Waters; I'm the singer for The Bastards. We're a band from Flee bottom" he said holding out his hand.   
  
"Cat" she said shaking his hand before stuffing her hands in her sweater pockets. He noted how soft her hands were ruling out that she played any instrument. He could tell it wasn't her real name either but brushed it off. Waters wasn't his legal name anyway. They stood in an awkward silence for a moment.   
  
"Well you better get back in there, they're starting soon" Gendry said as he walked back to get the rest of his equipment. She nodded silently watching him disappear and went back towards the hall.   
  
 **  
Arya**    
  
Almost tripping over her long legs Arya stumbled inside, looking for her brothers. She was nervous enough as it was without almost having to shank someone in the parking lot and meeting the sexiest man she had every laid eyes on.    
  
Then her heart stopped at the sight of another man, a certain blond haired little man standing at the sound booth near the back of the hall, next to Yoren and some other rough looking guys.   
  
Tyrion Lannister was a talent scout for Baratheon Records, one of the most successful music recording companies in Westeros. He was notorious for bringing in the unique and more interesting talents, not to mention his father owned Lannister Corp. and owned everything from shipping and import companies to owning a movie and television studio. There was hardly a movie released in Westeros that didn’t have the signature Lannister lion roaring at the beginning.   
  
He was also the little brother of the woman who sued her father for the rights to his own music and publically shamed him; therefore he was no friend of theirs.   
  
"Seven fuckin hells" Arya growled out earning a few glances in her direction. She put her hood up and shook her bangs to cover half her face.   
  
"We've got a problem" Arya announced when she found her brothers again.   
  
"Yeah we do, you still haven't decided what song we’re going to play, and they’re starting in twenty minutes!" Bran retorted poking her leg with his drum stick.   
  
"No, that's not it. The Imp is here" she said rubbing her wounded leg.   
  
"Who's the imp?" Rickon asked curiously as he twisted the tuning knobs on his guitar.   
  
"Tyrion Lannister, he's a talent scout for Bar. Rec. responsible for noticing a lot of bands that get picked each year and signing them,  he's also the bitch queens little brother, if he recognizes us it might fuck up our chances of getting picked, his family is a large producer of this tour, they basically pay for all of it. They practically shit gold coins." Arya said in a hushed tone.   
  
"Why would he recognize us?" Rickon asked looking confused.  
  
"He used to know mom and dad and well he did come to see me at the hospital after the accident, that's what Aunt Lysa said but I don't remember ,it was before I woke up" Bran said looking down at his legs remembering when he was in a coma after the accident.    
  
"Right, so he just can't see you then. He hasn't seen me since I looked like a little boy and Rickon doesn't look anything like he used to. Just keep your heads down let your hair cover your face, I won't stay in one spot long enough for him to spot me" Arya said in a hushed whisper.   
  
"That's no problem what is a problem is your inability to pick a fuckin song" Bran growled out as he held a small paper with their known songs scribbled on it. Arya snatched the paper out of his hands and pointed to the third one down.   
  
"This one" she said as Bran visibly relaxed and took the list back before she could change her mind.   
  
"So when are we going on" Arya asked as she secured the long shoelaces on her dirty high top converse into intricate knots.   
  
"Well they're going through alphabetically, based on band names so I think it's safe to say we're going to be last" Bran replied sarcastically. Arya rolled her eyes and turned toward the crowd that was now forming closer to the stage.   
  
The lights had all gone out except for one spot light lighting up the platform that held microphone stands and various instrument plug-ins and amps.   
  
The first band on stage played well enough, the second was even better but Arya was too busy trying to suppress the fear that was growing in the pit of her stomach.   
  
She closed her eyes and felt the pieces of her reality crumbling around her. She was back at her old home in Winterfell, standing under a massive white tree with blood red leaves next to her father. He looked so much younger than he had when she saw him last.  
  
"What's it like to play with music on the big box daddy," she remembered herself asking, her father’s work still didn't make much sense to her, but it seemed like lots of fun with so many people screaming and dancing. It wasn’t until she was much older that she fully understood the impact of her father’s music on people and the massive following he had.  
  
"Well it's really very frightening at first, you feel everyone eyes on you and you don't want to mess up, but I like to just pretend I'm at home in the studio playing for you kids or your mom and then it's not so scary anymore" he replied with a smile before attacking her with tickles.   
  
Arya swallowed the lump in her throat and opened her eyes when she noticed the band had stopped playing. They had done all right, the crowd around gave some applause as they walked off the stage.  
  
Fifteen minutes of breaking down and setting up later the next band was on and Arya was mildly surprised to see the man who helped her earlier take center stage. He was now wearing a black t shirt that said Bastard in all capital letters. There was really fat guy behind the drums, a skinny blond guitarist and a frail looking black haired bassist.    
    
"We're the bastards" Gendry said into the microphone in a low smooth voice, his searing blue eyes glowing in the spot lights as he started plucking a tune on his guitar. The muscles in his arms slightly dancing to the tune and Arya couldn't help but move her head to the sound. The sound of his guitar shook her to the core and surged throughout her entire being.   
  
'I’ve been stuck in The Vale for too long, I'm becoming boy crazy and stupid like Sansa’ she thought, reminding herself of her sister who was in the big city of Kings Landing gaining fame and stardom through a contract she signed with Baratheon Records before their parents died.  
  
The rest of the band joined in and when he opened his mouth to sing Arya felt something stir deep inside her chest. She couldn't help but start to move her shoulders to the music. 

(play first song now) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjzOUf0AEiQ  
  
" _I’ve seen your eyes as they fix on me, what is he doing?_ _What on earths the plan? Has he got one?  
You better give me some pointers, since you are the big rocket launcher…And I’m just the shotgun_ " he sang as though he were addressing the audience, glancing up from his guitar for only a moment before continuing.  
  
" _Well, I aint got no dollar signs in my eyes_ _, That might be a surprise but it’s true, said I’m not like you  
And I don’t want your advice or your praise…Or to move in the ways you do and I never will_ " his strong arms worked the instrument in his hand so well it seemed like they were fused together. The tempo slowed to a halt and he looked straight into the crowd of people.  
  
" _Cause all you people are vampires_ " he sang out into the silence before they played their instruments simultaneously for a moment.  
  
" _And all your stories are stale_ " they played again and stopped.   
  
" _And though you pretend to stand by us_ " he tweaked his guitar ever so slightly but held the attention of the audience so well.   
  
" _I know you're certain we'll fail_ " he sang slowly with a hint of hatred before the entire band exploded in unison playing fast and hard and causing an angry mosh pit in the center of the crowd.   
  
" _Well I've seen you're eyes as they fix on me full of confusion_ _, Your snarl is just so condescending  
Try to explain that we're on to a win If the fee we get in near recoups what we're spending. He said I cant believe that you drove all that way, well how much did they pay ya? How much did they pay ya? You would have been better to stay round our way, thinking about things … but not actually doing a thing_ "

Arya could do nothing but stare at the black haired man in wonderment, he seemed so familiar but she couldn't pinpoint how she could possibly know him. He seemed so uncomfortably familiar she had to fight the extreme urge to run and jump into his strong arms.   
  
And then she saw it, the tattoo of a bulls head in the inside of his right forearm.   
  
She had only seen that image once before, when she went to Kings Landing on a vacation with her father and sister, years ago when she was a tomboyish girl who wore oversized band shirts and shaved her head because her brother’s friend Theon dared her to.   
  
    He worked in a small convenience shop that she had wandered into one day, the shop was owned by a greedy old man who was never there, so the upkeep and responsibilities landed on a lean 15 year old blue eyed boy, he called himself Gen, he was such a hard worker that Arya often compared him to a well-oiled machine. He even had the hobby of repairing broken guitars he would come across, going so far as to rebuild them and replace the wood or metal work. 

He stopped singing and the entire band played together showing off their skills but Arya couldn’t bring herself out of her thoughts.

  
  During her two week vacation there she managed to visit the shop almost every day. She would bury her nose in the comic books about super Heroes and read books about dragons and magic, he was nice enough to recommend things to her that boys her age would enjoy, so she read them to keep up appearances and avoid the awkward explanation of why she looked and dressed like a little boy. She enjoyed it though, often finding herself staying until he closed up and skated off on his white skateboard that had an intricate drawing of bulls head on the bottom of it. She had asked him about it once he said he drew it himself. He even wore a light gray baseball cap that he had drawn it onto as well.  
  
And now she saw the exact same drawing etched into his skin.   
  
Suddenly the music stopped and the applause started. Arya watched them stepping off the stage and let the stage hands break down their equipment and set up for the next band.   
  
'How could I not have recognized him...? ‘She thought to herself. She wasn't surprised that he didn't recognize her. She might not be much to look at but there was no denying that she was a girl now. She fiddled with mother’s dark red lipstick tube that she had gone to find earlier before that creep tried to molest her in the parking lot.    
  
‘I doubt he even knew I was girl back then, and after the accident I never really thought about him again' Her thoughts were interrupted by Rickon tugging on her sleeve.   
  
"I have to pee" he muttered  
  
" it's by the entrance do you need me to go with you?" She asked protectively he rolled his light blue eyes and shook his head making his curly dark hair dance around his face.  
  
"Stay here with Bran I'll be back in a couple minutes" and with that he disappeared into the crowd behind them. Arya leaned on the arm of Bran's wheelchair with a million thoughts surging through her head.   
  
Five minutes later Rickon popped up again carrying three small silver and red cans that said Dragons Blood.   
  
"What the fuck is that" Arya asked snatching one out of his hand to inspect it.   
  
"It's some sort of energy drink, that's what my friend that gave it to me said, they had a bunch of them so I just grabbed one for all of us" he said excitedly. Arya cracked it open to sniff it, it had a strange smell that she didn’t recognize but it wasn’t alcohol like she first thought.   
  
"What friend? You were gone for five minutes how could you make a friend?" Bran asked incredulously.  
  
"He was some guy standing outside the bathroom, said his name was Hodor, he was nice" Rickon said innocently.  
  
"You don't just go and drink something that some random guy gave you in the bathroom!" Bran exclaimed. A loud burp silenced him. Both boys turned to their sister.  
  
"Woah" Arya said with wide eyes staring at the empty can. She felt a strange rush, almost like her blood was quickening.   
  
"What the hell is wrong with you? That could have been poisonous!" Bran growled out furrowing his dark eyebrows. Rickon copied his sister and downed the drink in one gulp.

“It’s not that bad” Arya said with a shrug.

 Bran sighed and waited to see if his siblings would drop to the floor and start convulsing. When they didn't he cracked his drink open and followed suit.   
  
"Ugh this tastes like bull piss and food coloring" Bran said wiping his tongue on his t shirt.   
  
The next fifteen bands performed in what seemed like a minute, and by the time some random guys came to gather their instruments they were all jittery and twitchy, bursting with artificial energy. Bran couldn’t sit still in his chair and constantly hit the air with his drumsticks, Rickon was squirming trying to stop himself from running around and Arya danced to every song wildly and wouldn’t stop muttering to herself. At some point she busted out her lipstick and messily put it on. 

 

Her nerves were shot to hell now and she had the sudden urge to rush through the crowd outside and run far… far away, but her body remained firmly in its place. Her father wouldn’t appreciate that kind of weakness and neither could she.   
  
"Should I take off my sweater or leave it on?" Arya muttered quickly suddenly self-conscious about her attire when she saw the stage hands setting up Bran’s drum set and Rickon’s guitar. Her brothers just stared blankly at her, never before hearing their sister express any concern about her appearance.   
  
"Ugh I guess I'll leave it on, right?" She decided uncertainly. They made their way onstage, luckily Yoren made sure that the stage was wheel chair accessible.   
  
Arya felt as if the floor was going to disappear beneath her feet as she walked up to the microphone stand and grabbed the microphone that she wrapped in colorful electric tape.  When they were all situated in their places, she looked out into the crowd of faces that were looking at them with doubt written in their eyes. She saw the Imp staring at her curiously and Yoren looking concerned.  
  
"We are Winter Hell" she said meekly almost not recognizing her own voice. She closed her eyes and swallowed her fear as turned away from the audience, giving them a view of her back as she took a strong stance.  
  
She looked at Bran who gave her a nod of encouragement and she closed her eyes and imagined them standing in the basement of their Aunt’s house in the middle of nowhere.   


(play second song now) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMKvU5sqmEA

  
" _Wasteful season, take my hand..._ " She sang slowly, her voice was shaking and she briefly regretted the energy drink she gulped down.  Bran slowly started to rub the end of his drum stick along the symbol producing an eerie high pitched sound to accompany her voice.    
  
" _Take the place of the snakes who ran..._ " She sang into the silence, Suddenly Bran and Rickon played loudly shattering through the hall with such a force that the audience shifted in surprise. Encouraged by the amazing sound quality of their music Arya released her energy with a loud "hey" and turned around to face the crowd dancing to the sound they created.   
  
" _Savage things wash over me_ " she sang boldly as she unzipped her sweater, if she wanted to be seen as an adult she was going to have to be confident like one.   
  
 _" a crime that leaves a heated greed, oh machine_ " she sang as she abandoned her sweater leaving her in a slashed and torn up band shirt that was crudely sown on the sides to fit her form snugly, the cut up sleeves hung of her thin shoulders and the shirt cut off above her naval, revealing much more skin than she usually did.   
  
" _Machine I washed it for you... Machine, machine I wasted for you"_ she sang with a smile. The crowd was visibly moving now, dancing along as the played and she never felt more alive. Her childhood dance lessons subconsciously mapping out her steps.    
  
Bran and Rickon slowed their tempo down and she took a stance with her head bent down letting her bangs cover her eyes and nose.   
  
" _And I walk, oh I walk the space left for two, and I wait, oh I wait to wake next you_ " she sang in a low almost growling voice as she danced slowly contorting her body like a zombie  for a moment before dancing across the room and repeating the chorus with a loud forceful voice.  She glanced out at the stage making sure her choppy hair covered her face. She could see the crowd moving and dancing, she even caught sight of the imp looking at them with amusement. Before he could recognize her she made sure to keep her face covered and her voice steady.

   
Bran and Rickon started playing heavily again filling the hall with their energetic vibrations, Rickon had his head bent, letting his mop of curls cover his face as he took the lead breaking down the music and ripping his guitar to shreds. Brans arms were moving wildly, making up for the absence of his legs and his beat was perfect.   
  
Arya was dancing freely around the stage as though they were practicing alone at home her body was going through the motions of a dance that she had known her entire life.  The energy drink was definitely kicking in and she no longer cared what people thought of her, this might be the only chance she can get to have fun like this.She danced around the stage occasionally singing randomly into the microphone as her brothers showcased their own skills.  
 _  
"Oh machine_ " she sang out loudly as though she were calling out for something when her brothers slowed their tempo again. And she sank to her knees, suddenly losing the burst of energy she felt minutes ago.   
  
 _"Machine_ " she sang out slowly and let her voice ring out, she stood back up looking out into the crowd as her brothers played slowly along with her.   
  
" _I washed. It. For. Youuuuuu_ " her eyes found the familiar electric blue eyes that had haunted her dreams for years as she sang out the last word letting her arms extending the microphone away from her slowly to let the sound of her voice fade out.  
  
With that she dropped the microphone loudly and wordlessly walked off the stage as the sounds of cheers and applause followed her.   
  
She felt a rush she had never experienced in her fifteen years of life and she knew she was addicted the moment she felt it and she burst out laughing uncontrollably. 

 

**Gendry**

He didn’t know what to think of the performance he just witnessed. The band he brushed off so easily at first just shocked the entire room. And the girl… the girl he ‘saved’ earlier was the most shocking of all.

Her voice wasn’t classically tuned like most female singers. She had a raw sound about her that matched the guitar and drums that accompanied her. The way she danced and moved around was wild and crude but she managed to move in such a graceful way that she flowed like water across the stage and he had never seen anyone perform that way. She almost held her microphone out like a sword and her precise graceful movements almost looked lethal. 

  When she practically almost stripped on stage to reveal her wearing a thin torn and stitched up band shirt, he almost wanted to smash in the heads of the men cheering around him. He didn’t like them leering at her and he didn’t even know why he felt so protective over this skinny little girl. She was pretty but something was different about her, he felt as if he had met her before a hundred times. Like she had always been a part of his life but he had just barely seen her for the first time.

When she slowly drawled out her last line while looking at him directly in his eyes he felt as if the entire room had cleared out and she was singing directly to him.

She looked so enticing with her lipstick smeared across her face that was shiny with sweat.  She seemed so invigorated after her performance her pale skin glowed with excitement as she wolfishly smiled to her brothers when they exited the stage.

She had definitely captured his attention now.      

 

 


	2. Harrenhal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First stop of the Nights Watch Tour in Harrenhal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Again I do not own the characters or World it belongs to George R. R. Martin. Any likenesses to actual people are completely fictional and the songs I use are property of the artists. I will provide a full list of video references at the end but i will still provide links to their youtube videos in specific places. Hope you enjoy :)

**Arya**

Cold, quiet blue water surrounded her, she felt panic surge throughout her entire body. She needed air and she needed air badly but the dull light coming from the surface was just out of her reach. The pressure of the river swallowed her deeper and deeper and she knew the gift of death was moments away…

 

Arya sat up with a long loud gasp hitting her head on the top of the sleeping compartment where she woke up.

 

“fuck” she groaned trying to trying to process the pain through her sleepy haze. An uncomfortable feeling settled in her stomach, she hadn’t had that drowning dream in years. ‘I’ll never get used to sleeping on a tour bus’ she thought to herself as she climbed out of her cabinet turned makeshift bed and into the common area of the bus.

 

Rickon was staring sleepily out the window from a comfy chair and Bran was trying to keep his wheel chair from rolling around as they drove through a heavily forested area.

 

“What time is it?” she groaned as she collapsed into the chair across from Rickon.

 

“11 am, we have another 3 hours until we reach Harrenhal, Osha said we all started driving about 2 hours ago.” Bran answered referring to their driver.

 

She glanced to the front of the bus at the door that divided them from their driver. Osha was a rough woman who had wild messy hair, thick eyeliner and dark red lipstick. She also had a heavy northern accent and was always smoking a cigarette.

 

Arya grabbed a folded up map of Westeros that had the route of the Night’s Watch tour highlighted for them.

 

“so we circle around the south before heading up north?” Arya asked as she traced the bright orange line with her finger.

 

“yeah, the tour takes about 3 months to play a show in each of the 14 towns and 4 major cities” Bran explained gripping the arm of her chair to stop himself from rolling into Rickon when the bus took a sharp turn. Arya and Rickon both shot their arms out to help him, but he swatted their hands away stubbornly.

 

“Yoren said they’ll get us a proper bus when we get to Lannisport” Arya said apologetically.

 

Their bus was standard like everyone else’s, common sitting area with two swirling fluffy chairs and across from a sofa, a kitchenette, fold out table, sleeping compartments, a small bathroom and a small room with a bed in the very back. There was a small compartment above the drivers area where Osha was to sleep.

 

'Beats the hell out of sleeping in a van' Arya thought to herself.

 

“it’s actually kinda fun” Bran admitted with a small smile. Arya knew he hated when his siblings felt pity for him like he was some pitiful cripple.

 

“Rickon go make us some tea” she ordered, so he got up and walked three steps to their little kitchenette, narrowing his eyes at his lazy older sister the entire time.

 

Arya glanced out of the window catching a glimpse of the line of black tour buses identical to theirs; she had to struggle not to wonder which one held the boy she used to not stop thinking about.

 

Apparently she still couldn’t stop thinking about him.

 

‘stop thinking about him, stop thinking about him…’ she chanted in her mind.

 

“what songs are we playing tonight?” Bran asked when Rickon handed them each a paper cup with warm tea.

 

“I haven’t decided” Arya mumbled into her tea avoiding his gaze. Bran silently gave her a hard stare raising a dark eyebrow at her.

 

"So what do we know about Harrenhal?" Rickon asked impatiently blowing on his tea.

 

"we know dragons burned down some castle like a million years ago" Arya responded running her hands through her tangled hair as she remembered the Westeros history books her aunt made her memorize.

 

" yeah, ok… that doesn't help us, I remember dad saying something about it being the heavy metal Mecca of westeros. Harrenhal arena was the breeding ground for the long haired screeching sounds of the 80s, and the people there still have a taste for that type of heavy music." he explained and Arya raised her eyebrows at him.

 

"How the hell do you know all of that?" She interrogated

 

"Whenever dad managed to find time to put me to sleep at night instead of asking for old bed time stories I asked about where he would go and what he would do, he told me a lot about the musical tastes of people in different parts of the country... He said it was good to know audience no matter where they are from or what they like" Bran explained smiling sadly as he thought of their father.

 

They sat in silence for a moment before Rickon farted loudly, killing the tension instantly.

 

“open a window!" Bran gasped out. Arya was coughing dramatically as she struggled with the bus window and Rickon dissolved into a fit of chuckles as he watched his siblings struggle.

 

"Everything ok back there?!" Osha yelled from the front in her thick accent.

 

"Yeah we're fine" Rickon yelled back ignoring the glares from the two.

 

"So basically we need to play heavy music and I need to scream into the microphone?" Arya said when the air was clear again.

 

"In a nutshell... Yeah, we have one song like that but we need two for tonight, even though I highly doubt we will impress this crowd enough to win the encore, but we each get ten minutes to try"Bran replied.

 

"I don't get it, what's special about the encore?" Rickon asked digging through the cabinets, pulling out box of granola bars and throwing one to each of them.

 

"Well at the end of the show the crowd gets to cheer for another song from their favorite band of the night, that's what makes it a battle of the bands. The band that acquires the most encores and votes by the end of the tour wins ten thousand gold and a record deal with Bar. Rec., including a winter tour, major press releases and music video promotions" Bran said ticking off the main prizes off his fingers as remembered them. The looks on their faces told Bran he was the only one who bothered to read the fine details of the contract they signed with Yoren when they were chosen to participate two days ago.

 

"Well regardless of winning, the amount of exposure we can get in such a short time is the real prize. There's no better way to sell our music than to play in front of a lot of people" Arya said emphasizing the word a lot before using her teeth to tear open her snack.

 

"Yeah for once you're right about something" Bran teased ignoring the granola bar that Rickon threw at him as he pulled out his drumsticks and started playing invisible drums.

 

Arya rolled her eyes and kicked the wheel of his chair before staring out the window at the moving stony fields and dark gray clouds rolling by them. Letting her thoughts travel back to a bright blue eyed boy that she used to know.

 

**Gendry**

 

He had just finished adjusting his guitar strings on his black electric guitar when the caravan pulled into the town of Harrenhal. He had attuned it to play a heavier sound for the upcoming performance.

 

"I hope they pick a decent place to eat here, I'm starving" Hot Pie said as he shoved cookies into his mouth.

 

"How can you think about food when you’re eating?" Lommy asked incredulously from his lying position on the floor. The long drive had made him nauseous enough to lay on the floor and complain for two hours. Apparently his motion sickness did not improve since last year.

 

"I eat when I'm nervous" Hot Pie replied defensively causing Gendry and Edric to snort with laughter.

 

"How can you be nervous? We did this exact tour last year. Edric should be nervous, he’s the virgin" Gendry said silently plucking the strings of his instrument and smirking when his brother shoved him lightly with his foot, mumbling about not having been a virgin for years.

 

"What if they boo us off the stage or throw food at us?" Hot pie said through a mouthful of cookie.

 

"They won't boo us off and I doubt having food thrown at you would be the worst thing that ever happened to you" Gendry said narrowly avoiding the cookie thrown at his head when the bus came to a halt.

 

Lommy shot up like a blond weed and dashed down the steps before anyone else could utter a word. They all followed suit and soon and Gendry found himself subconsciously scanning the line of parked busses. Everyone was pouring out and marching into nearest tavern called The Tickler.

 

By the time they entered the dimly lit building most of the seats were already filled and the staff was frantically serving drinks to the fully packed room.

 

The Tickler seemed prepared for the arrival of the Nights Watch Tour with their tables pressed together and lined with as many chairs as they could get. Gendry stumbled into some seats at table closest to the door, avoiding the mess of people in further in.

 

"I've got to piss like a drunken Dornish horse" Edric announced as he threw his jacket down on the back of a seat to cover and claim it, Lommy and Hot Pie nodded in agreement before following his example and the three of them disappeared into the crowd.

 

"What can I get you and your mates to drink?" A server shouted from the other end of the long table.

 

"A round of Ale!" he said loudly and the man nodded before disappearing.

 

'Looks like everyone is already here' he thought trying and failing to count the endlessly moving mob in front of him and instead took in his surroundings.

 

The Tickler had a timeworn feel about it, the ceilings were high and everything was made of a deep warm wood. Black metal chained chandeliers gave the place very dim lighting with the exception of the bar that illuminated a wall filled with various glass bottles of all shapes, colors and sizes. Even the cups and utensils seemed ancient. The only modern features in the entire room seemed to be the thin flat screen televisions that lined the walls, tilted to provide a better view which didn't matter because they were off anyway.

 

Suddenly a gust of cold air hit his back and he turned to see Cat barge in followed by her curly haired companion, the wheel chair bound boy and a wild looking woman he vaguely recognized. The woman pushed them towards him and he watched as the girl settled down into the chair next to him, the curly haired one across from them next to Edric’s empty chair and the other one rolled into the edge of the table.

 

"Hey Cat" he said nodding his head to her. He noticed the flash of confusion on the other boy’s faces but she shot them a pointed look and they looked down.

 

"Hey there Gendry" she said smiling quickly but focusing on the plastic menu in front of her. The boys looked at her expectantly but she just continued to study her menu with great concentration.

 

"Hi I'm Bran, our sister here seems to have forgotten her manners" he said reaching his out his hand from the end of the table to shake his and causing her to snort loudly at his comment, but still avoiding his gaze.

 

"I'm Rickon" the curly haired one said quietly with a nod.He saw his band mates forcing their way back through the crowd and gracelessly falling in their seats.

 

“I’m Gendry Waters, this is my brother Edric Storm, That’s Lommy Greenhands, and Hot Pie. Guys this is Cat, Bran and Rickon” Gendry said as the waiter returned with large pitchers and started filling everyone’s cups to the brim.

 

“We're serving Roast Dinner today and Mushroom stew for you ... vegetarian types” the waiter said gruffly eyeing the three palest kids in the room.

 

“Mushroom Stew please” Rickon piped up happily and his siblings nodded with much less enthusiasm.

 

“So you guys are vegetarian huh? Is that like a health thing or is it animal rights that got you” Edric asked after they all ordered their food and the waiter disappeared after collecting their menus.

 

“They’re not vegetarian, they’re Vegan” Gendry teasingly causing her to narrow her gaze at him. He smirked in response glad to have her silver stare on him again.

 

“seriously? You guys don’t even eat cheese? How can you live without cheese?!?” Hot pie exclaimed looking scandalized.

 

“Our cousin Shireen is a vegetarian because she wants to save every animal from any type of cruelty, but even she can’t go all vegan. That takes serious dedication” Edric said with genuine interest causing Rickon to launch into a detailed explanation of the horrid conditions of farms and slaughter houses. By the end of his rant Edric flagged down their waiter and changed his order to mushroom stew. Even Gendry had no doubt that they were authentic.

 

“so how did a cripple like you learn to play the drums so well?” Hot Pie blurted out in Bran’s direction while they waited for their food.

 

Gendry closed his eyes and groaned inwardly at his friend’s rudeness until a loud slam made him abruptly open his eyes to see Cat’s ass almost fully in his face as she crouched over the table on one leg and held her fork to Hot Pie’s eye. Gendry reached up instinctively grabbing her by her tiny waist to stop her momentum.

 

“My brother is NOT a cripple! He can out drum you any day even with your useless fat little legs, call him a cripple again and I’ll gouge your fucking eyes out” Cat growled out calmly but disturbingly serious. Hot Pie looked ready to piss himself.

 

“Stop Ar…Cat, its ok” Bran said loudly causing his sister to slowly return to her seat while giving Hot Pie a death glare. Gendry watched her pale cheeks blush a little when she noticed that he had restrained her. It amused him that she could blush right after threatening to gouge someone’s eyes out.

 

“what kind of stupid stage name is Hot Pie anyway” she asked crudely taking handle of her emotions quickly.

 

“it’s not a stage name” Lommy interjected lazily.

 

“yeah...when I was small and I got sent to the orphanage and all I could say was hot pie. So they just started calling me hot pie and it stuck… I guess” Hot Pie explained, carefully eyeing Cat incase he had to make an escape. She just rolled her eyes and focused on drinking large gulps of beer.

 

The televisions clicked on simultaneously to show a small silver blond haired girl with large violet eyes in a tiny pleated skirt and bikini top dancing erotically while surrounded by sweaty dark skinned shirtless men as an electric beat filled the tavern.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rg3sAb8Id8)

 

“ _Gonna get dirty... it’s about time for my arrival... Dirrrrrty!... sweat dripping over my... Body_!" A loud female voice sang out as the TV showed different scenes of her dancing erotically wearing chaps, in a shower surrounded by wet dancing girls dressed like her, and then lastly to show her with her legs wrapped around the waist of a huge buff guy wearing eye liner while she vocalized random sayings along with the beat.

 

Suddenly it cut off to show a good looking curly haired guy with a perfect smile beaming at them. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Cat's eyes widen before she downed her beer and proceeded to steal Rickon's.

 

“That was Khaleesi featuring Kahl Drogo with their song ‘Dirty’ off her new album 'Dracaris' coming in at number 2 in this week’s top Ten music videos. Up next at number 1 is Jofferey Barataheon’s hit single ‘Baby you so swag’ I'm Loras Tyrell and you’re watching Westeros Entertainment Network”

 

The screen went black for a second before the annoying face of Joffery Baratheon appeared. He was shirtless, wearing a backward designer cap with a large diamond crusted pendant that said JB and hung off a thick gold chain, while singing with a pinched face trying to pass off as emotion.

 

“TURN IT OFF” someone yelled.

 

“This is torture!” another gruff man screamed.

 

“ID RATHER HAVE RATS EAT ME ALIVE THAN LISTEN TO THAT CUNT” and with that the screen switched to a football game and the food started coming out effectively silencing everyone for a minute as they devoured their meals.

 

**Arya**

 

“Why was that guy calling you Cat?” Rickon asked when they were sent back to their bus to ready themselves for what everyone was referring to as The Battle.

 

“Was I the only one who heard Yoren tell us not to use our real names?” she asked grouchily. Of course she would be the one to embrace the notions of alter egos.

 

"Well if you think about it, as long as we don’t say our last name it should be fine… Cat… why would you use mom’s nickname?” Bran asked curiously. “it’s the first thing that came to mind” she replied honestly thinking of her reunion with Gendry.

 

'why can’t I manage to tell this guy my real name…’ she thought remembering when they first met in kings landing and she called herself Arry Snow.

 

Shaking her head she tried to steer her thoughts away from that stupidly handsome boy. She knew she was slightly drunk when she had managed to make a fool of herself as he found her slowly leaning toward his plate of delectable roast, losing her balance and falling face first into his lap. He looked as shocked as she did so she scrambled to down her bowl of stew quickly in one gulp to hide her embarrassment, resulting in her having to escape to the bathroom and meeting her brothers back at the bus.

 

Luckily Osha chose that moment to barge into the bus and wrenching her from her daze.

 

“are you kids ready?” Osha asked in her thick accent.

 

“As ready as we’ll ever be” Bran responded, being the only one who could understand her.

 

“Well if they start throwing bottles at you make sure you run off stage as soon as possible. During the second tour a folksy band tried playing a cheesy song about saving Mother Earth and the crowd got so angry at the happy tunes that they started throwing beer bottles at the stage. The banjoist had to get seven stitches in his face.” Osha explained gravely. The three of them stared at her in alarm hoping she would say it was a joke but she just lit a cigarette.

 

“So you’ve been on all the tours then, as a tour bus driver?” Bran asked.

 

“Aye I have, started out chasing my ex-husband’s pipe dream so I tagged along as a driver, then he took his winnings and a twenty year old cocktail waitress and ran off to Pentos. It’s a good thing Yoren had a rough time finding drivers so he’s been hiring me every year since.” She said taking a long drag of her cigarette and expelling pure white smoke.

 

“So who won the battle of Harrenhal last year?” Bran enquired.

 

“They call themselves The Others, say their music is death metal, and yes they’re here this year too. I’ve got to get back out there and help with set up, you’ve got an hour before they start so ...make sure you keep an eye out for flying bottles” she warned before disappearing down the steps of the bus. They were silent for a minute exchanging worried glances with each other.

 

“wait… what did she say?” Rickon asked in a low whisper as though she were still there.

 

Arya got up leaving Bran to explain their eminent danger while she searched through her duffle bag stuffed with clothes looking for something decent to wear and not a ‘stitched up rag’ that Yoren made her promise to never wear on stage again.

 

She found the top of one of Rickon's old skeleton Halloween costumes and slid it on. It was a very thin shiny black material and the white skeleton bones were cracked and slightly peeling but it was perfect for dancing around the stage in. The sleeves stopped at her elbow, came up to her neck to give the slightest hint of a turtle neck and the top itself tightened and cut off at her rib cage leaving her smooth flat pale stomach bare. It also provided enough support that she wouldn’t require an annoying bra allowing for maximum movement. Sewn in tight black jeans and Jon’s old studded belt, that she wrapped around her thin hips twice, completed her outfit.

 

Thirty minutes later a spiffed up Arya and Rickon carried Bran in his wheelchair off the bus and headed out toward the looming ruins of old Harrenhal where there was a large stage set up.

 

They could see the charred ruins of a crumbling castle; Arya couldn’t help the wave of déjà vu that swept over her as she gazed at it. She had a strange feeling about the place since they arrived earlier. They could see the line of guests eagerly waiting to get in, lots of long haired guys and tattooed girls being kept at bay by security.

 

“hey there’s Hodor” Rickon said pointing to a giant of a man with white blond hair carrying two huge drums under his arms like nothing.

 

Arya noticed that Hodor was a bit slow when Rickon introduced them, but he was very sweet and he kindly pointed them in the right direction where all the other bands were gathering.

 

Arya spotted Gendry immediately. He was trying to fix the wiring in the back of a large speaker. She stood stiffly watching his tall form bending down a little as his blue eyes concentrated and his hands tinkered away. He had on a clean black shirt stretched across his broad shoulders, dark jeans and a very familiar gray baseball cap with the bulls head drawing. His black guitar was slung on his back with a white strap that said bastard in all black letters.

 

He must have felt her looking at him because his blue eyes found hers and she quickly turned pretending to talk to Bran only to find herself standing alone. Before she could think of anything else his long legs had brought him to stand right in front of her. He was so close she could smell his musky scent and she had the sudden urge to bury her nose in his chest, but instead she looked up into his piercing blue eyes.

 

"I see you're a fan of The Others" he said letting his eyes travel over her form. She followed his gaze and noticed that her nipples had hardened in the crisp dusk wind. Or his close proximity... How the hell was she to know.

 

"What do you mean?" She asked crossing her arms in defense and standing at her full height which still only brought her to eye level with his strong chin. He brought a long finger up to her cheek and lightly pushed her head to the left, showing her the group of incredibly tall men with long brittle white hair and face paint to make them look like skeletal death.

 

She didn't feel warmth radiating from the spot on her cheek where his finger touched her, nope she did not.

 

"Their followers call themselves white walkers, they paint their faces and dress up in costume. They also tend to get pretty riled up" Gendry said smoothly and she could feel the breath from every word he muttered flutter on her skin. She couldn't stop color form on her face no matter how much she told herself not to blush.

 

"Well I wouldn't know if I'm a fan of them or not I haven't really heard their stuff..." She replied as evenly as she could. Ignoring the way his mouth twitched into a smile that flickered all the way up into his cerulean eyes.

 

"You didn't see them at the audition?" He questioned with a cock of his eyebrow.

 

"Not really ...my mind was... Preoccupied..." She responded eyeing his towering form out of the corner of her eye. He opened his mouth to say something else but he was cut off by Yoren shouting in the middle of the area.

 

"Alright you sorry sons of bitches listen up, we start in 5 so get ready! We've got three hours to get this show done and then tomorrow we head out for Riverun so make sure you're in you're bloody places when you get called!" He yelled gruffly.

 

"Better get back with your brothers" gendry said nodding his head toward a table filled with refreshments where Bran and Rickon were loitering.

 

"Watch out for flying bottles" she said quickly before rushing off.

 

"Give me that" she growled as she snatched the dark bottle of beer from Rickon's hands and downed it in one drink.

 

"What the fuck Arya that was mine" he whispered angrily and she responded by shoving a water bottle in his hands.

 

"What's that?" She asked referring to the small paper Bran was holding.

 

"It's a copy of the line up" Bran said handing her the paper. The sounds of harsh guitars and drums started and a wave of cheering could be heard.

 

"So I guess that would be the Brotherhood without Banners?" She said reading the first band name listed.

 

"Yeah then The Bastards play, followed by Faceless Men, The Flayed, then The Others" Bran said cracking open a Dragons Blood can.

 

"Reeds, The Stone Crows, Unsullied and The Wildlings. Then it's us" Arya said reading off the rest of the list. She handed it back to Bran and opened another beer. By the time BWB was finished with their set she had downed another five glass bottles of dark beer and she couldn't be bothered with their full band name.

 

"I've got to pishhh sho badly" she slurred after she finished off her bottle.

 

" no shit, I don't know how you fit that much beer in your body" rickon muttered with envy.

 

"There were some portables back the way we came, take this and try to sober up" Bran said placing a small silver can of dragons blood in her hands. She immediately cracked it open, drank it in one gulp and tossed the can away before stumbling off to find a proper place to piss.

 

After she finished her business she had no idea how she ended up squished in the crowds of people facing the large empty stage she was expected to perform on. She tried finding a familiar face around her but was met with nothing but rough looking guys and slutty girls , some of which had painted their faces.

 

She tried and failed to shake her haze away but when she spotted Gendry strolling up to the microphone and hooking up his guitar thoughts of leaving her spot fled her mind.

Lommy and Edric tested out a few strums on their instruments and adjusted to the right pitch.

 

"We're The Bastards" Gendry said smoothly into the microphone before Edric started playing a long deep note and then Hot Pie started drumming heavily. Gendry and Lommy joined in playing strongly and loud.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAShx8scZe8)

 

 

" _I saw the colossal landscape... Of which I never was a part_ " he began signing in a slightly high voice.

 

" _It was a magical day ... Of which I’d never seen before_ " Arya could feel herself starting to dance. Even the white walkers around her started to move to the strong sounds.

 

" _The first time I saw Colossal Girl_ " she could see him wearing something silver on his finger that made the guitar he played sound almost like screeching metal, but it sounded amazing to her.

 

“ _The first time I saw Colossal Girl_ ” his cobalt blue eyes looked up to scan the audience and she vaguely wondered if he would spot her but he just focused on his guitar again.

 

“ _Such glowing mountains before us … Pillars of life all fade away…_ ” She closed her eyes and pictured the snowy mountains in Winterfell that her heart longed to see.

 

“ _Of all the things I need to say girl… All of these words are in my way…_ ” She was watching him again greedily enjoying his performance.

 

“ _the first time I saw Colossal girl_ ” stopped playing and let Gendry play a little solo tune before they crashed in powerfully.

 

“ _Well she’s running to the hills again… Can you tell me if she’ll ever return? She must be Mother Nature’s child cause she’s runnin’ to the call of the Wild_ ” He was singing so high that she could see the veins in his long thick neck pulsating.

 

“ _She’s talking to the trees again, telling me that’s she’s one of them! Lookin’ at that bird in the tree ...though she’s never gunna notice me_!” He turned away from the microphone and started playing his guitar a little slower.

 

“ _Oh is my love a confession… Will I just put it back today … If I had love left to give you?... Would you still throw it all away?_ ” there was a hint of longing in his voice that sent Arya’s head spinning. ‘ I wonder who he is singing about?’ she thought curiously dreading the very real possibly that he could be in a relationship.He was repeating the chorus again and she agonized over the inspiration for it.

 

‘theres no way he wouldn’t have a girlfriend now, when he was younger he was only interested in work , music, and drawing bulls but now he’s a man and he probably has some cool twenty two year old woman with big boobs and blond hair’ she thought bitterly suddenly feeling queasy, she stopped dancing and stood still watching him as they played furiously for a few minutes, by now the entire crowd was dancing along with their music.

 

‘like there could ever be a woman who wouldn’t notice him?’ she thought getting irrationally angry at him when he finished real repeating the chorus

 

“ _Do you remember the first time we met? …Living together in colossal times. Some things are given with no reason why… living together all of the time_ ” He was singing faster now, she could tell that his blood was rushing because that what she felt on stage.

 

“ _I’m just a gypsy with wondering eyes… I’ll tell you secrets that send you to sleep… All I can give you is all of my love… these are the things I can give you to keep_ ” his voice rang our as they finished playing and left the stage. She just stood there with her head swimming.

 

She tried looking for an escape route but it seemed like the crowd was closing in tighter around her. A few minutes later the next band came on stage and Arya noted the handsome bassist that locked eyes with her. His hair was a little feminine being longer than hers and red with bleach blond streaks but it kinda worked. They played fast and intense filling the hall with controlled chaos.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEzifwSzNDg)

 

" _I've got no lips I got no tongue where there are eyes there's only slits... I've got a broken face uh huh_ " Arya couldn't make any other words out because a mosh pit had erupted around her sending her flying around. She had to punch and kick everyone around her to stay upright and finally when the band stopped so did the mosh. Arya stood proudly watching a guy cup his bleeding nose and squirm away through the growing crowd.

 

The next band was set up and she narrowed her drunk eyes as Ramsay Bolton walked up to the mic. She refused to dance to the music they started playing, but she wasn't the only one. Compared to the previous performances The Flayed sounded very tame, a little too tame and for the crowd.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZYCKNYxmrY)

 

" _Girlfriend in a coma I know I know it's serious...Girlfriend in a coma ...I know ...I know it's really serious_ " Ramsay Bolton sang nonchalantly almost as if he were bored, and she couldn't understand the nerve of that prick making a song out of someone else's sorrow.

 

" _There were times when I could have murdered ... Her_ " he had a voice that was carefully trained through lesson upon lesson but there's no lesson that make a psychopath feel emotion let alone sing with it. Arya didn't see where the first bottle came from but she saw it land and explode right next to Ramsay's feet making his squeal resonate through the speakers.

 

"Get off the stage you wanker!" Someone shouted as more bottles flew but Ramsay kept singing almost enjoying the uproar inappropriately. Out of nowhere someone threw a massive greasy sausage that hit him right across the face.

 

Arya couldn't even begin to fathom how or why someone would bring sausage like that to a concert but when he stormed off the stage giving the crowd the finger she cheered as loud as everyone around her.

 

The crowd was moving in closer now and she felt like a sardine squashed between sweaty mounds of flesh. She tried shoving her way through the crowd only to find herself deeper in the pit. She could feel the excitement of the crowd surrounding her mounting. When some stage hands set up a drum set that said The Others the crowd pushed her closer to the stage with an alarming force.

 

When The Others finally came on stage they were far more intimidating with the bright lights fixed on them as they took their cross guitars and started playing really hard and fast.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzGKsXPBILw)

 

She couldn't understand any words that the lead singer was singing but his voice was almost a low deep growl. The guitarists and bassist were whipping their long hair around dramatically as they drilled into their instruments. When he said something about death in an old far northern language she finally recognized the almost ancient language that hardly anyone spoke anymore.

 

The audience was moving wildly and Arya got swept into another mosh pit. She took an elbow in her chest and someone kicked her thigh which just fueled her drunken rage as her fists collided with everything she could reach. Finally their set ended and the mosh pit dispersed leaving Arya with a busted lip.

 

As the stage hands set up for Reeds she tried maneuvering through the crowd to find an exit but she was stalled by a huge round man that wouldn't move.

 

"Hi can you move?!" She yelled trying to get his attention. He turned to her and she saw the pasty white and black face paint sweating off his face. But he just stood there staring at her blankly.

 

"Really? You're just going to stand there looking at me...Oh my gods what the fuck" she exclaimed as he opened his mouth to let thick white foam spill out.

 

"Eww" she said weakly gagging a little as she pressed back into the crowd the way she came .

 

Reeds had taken the stage now and Arya spotted a short curly haired girl in a dark green tank top sit behind the drum set while a tall blond guy wearing black sunglasses and a white t shirt walked up to the microphone with his guitar.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTpw5XMnJig)

 

They started playing a simple but heavy beat together.

 

" _I'm gunna fight em off... A seven nation army couldn't hold me back , they're gunna rip it off... Taking their time right behind my back... And I'm talking to myself at night because I can't forget... Back and fourth through my mind behind a cigarette_ " He sang in an almost annoying high pitch voice. He stopped singing to go into a long guitar solo and the crowd was moving again so arya used it to her advantage and slipped through.

 

She spotted an entrance to a restricted corridor leading to backstage being guarded by a tall sleazy looking man with a dumb look on his face. She tried to casually stroll by but she felt him grab her by the scruff of her mock turtle neck to stop her.

 

"You're not allowed back there " he sneered tossing her back toward the crowd.

 

"Hey ...Polliver? Yeah I'm part of the show and I gotta perform soon so let me through" she said glancing at his name tag and trying to walk by again only to have him repeat his actions.

 

"Ah an eager little groupie we have here hehe don't worry white walker whore you'll be able to suck enough dick after the show is over" he said giving her a leering smile that made her feel sick.

 

"I'm not a fucking groupie, I'm the singer for Winter Hell let me through!" She demanded loudly, her rage was at it's boiling point, she tried to Out maneuver him but there wasn't enough space for her to slip through.

 

'Fuck' she thought screwing her eyes shut and wishing she could mentally contact her brothers.

 

**Gendry**

 

'Where the hell did she go?'he thought checking the portable bathrooms for the fifth time. When he came back from performing with his blood still rushing to find Bran and rickon frantically searching around to find their sister, he honestly didn't think it would take this long to find the girl the back stage area wasn't even that spacious.

 

"Listen you daft cunt I'm not letting you through!" He suddenly heard a man shouting from a pathway that led to the general audience area.

 

"Listen to ME you ugly piece of shit! I've already wasted twenty minutes standing here with you! I will fucking cut you if you don't let me through right now!" He heard the voice of an all too familiar girl respond .

 

Low and behold there she was drunk, tiny and angrily picking a fight with the venue's very large security personnel. Gendry didn't even want to process the relief that flooded him when he finally spotted her.

 

Before they could further insult one another Gendry rushed over and grabbed her arm pulling her past the angry security guard and down the pathway.

 

"Boom! In your face! Why don't you get on your knees and suck MY non-existent dick!! Bitch!" She screeched as Gendry pulled her away having to use more force than he would have liked.

 

"How can someone so small be such a major pain in my arse" he snarled bringing her hazy gray gaze on him as if she just noticed him . The next band on stage started playing as the music flooded around them making it a little harder to hear.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU3J6szn0aI)

 

She wretched her arm away for him so fast you would think that he scorched her but it just freed up his hands to roughly grab her face and bring it closer to his.

 

"What the hell happened to you're face?" He asked staring at her lips. Her face grew hotter and her eyes widened but she shoved him away from her.

 

" _Come on baby be my bad boyfriend_ " a strong female sang out with heavy guitars following.

 

"I was in a mosh pit... Why were you looking for me?" She asked as she lightly tapped her bloody bottom lip with her finger.

 

" _I wanna hear you call out my name, I wanna see you burn up in flames, keep you on ice so I can show all my friends, come on baby be my bad boyfriend_ "

 

gendry recognized the woman singing was Ygritte, Edric had tried and failed miserably to hit on her after they performed earlier.

 

"What were doing out there in the audience? I thought I saw you but I was sure I was just seeing things" he asked loudly as they walked back to their designated area.

 

"I got ...lost " she said in a small voice that was almost drowned out by the background noise.

 

"Cat what the fuck!? " Bran exclaimed as he wheeled himself as fast as he could towards them.

 

"We were about to send Rickon into the masses to go look for you!" He said motioning his head toward Rickon who was now wearing a bright orange vest with reflectors over his button up black shirt looking very unamused.

 

"Sorry I was just being held up by some power hungry douche who thought I was a groupie trying to get first pick at dick" she said as she simmered with anger again.

 

"Whatever... The wildlings are playing now and then we're next are you ready? here drink some water"Bran threw a water bottle at her which Gendry had to catch before it pelted her face.

 

"How much did you drink?" Gendry asked while she sipped her water.

 

"Like 6 beers I think...."she replied uncertainly. 'Thats a lot but not enough to fuck her up this much' he thought as she stumbled again trying to stand in one spot.

 

"Did you drink a dragons blood by any chance?" He asked seriously

 

"Well yeah I vaguely remember crunching a empty silver can" she responded.

 

"No wonder you're acting like a nut, beer and energy drinks don't mix well unless you want to get really fucked up" he said and she just rolled her eyes.

 

The Wildlings had just finished playing so she shoved the water bottle back in his hands and reached her arms up as high as she could making a starfish shape before bending down to touch the floor.

 

"What are you doing?" Gendry asked desperately trying not to gawk as she stretched a leg behind her and caught her foot with her hands so she was standing on one leg. Her milky smooth skin of her long abdomen stretched enticingly as she repeated the process with the other leg.

 

"I'm stretching, stupid " she said as though it was obvious, she was innocently oblivious to what kind of thoughts her movements were planting in his dirty mind, much like earlier when she somehow managed to plant her face in his lap at dinner.

 

Suddenly as though she knew what he was thinking she lost her balance and crashed into him. He had to quickly stabilize them to keep from falling by wrapping his arms around her and it took every ounce of self control he had not to bury his nose in her hair.

 

A loud cough broke them apart and Bran and Rickon were staring at them expectantly. Bran had his drumsticks ready while Rickon wore his guitar, Cat quickly followed them out on stage.

 

"What out for flying bottles" he called out after them earning him a small smile from her. He followed only as far as he could go standing at the side of the stage and watched them take their places.

 

**Arya**

 

She was blinded by the lights as she tried to look out into the sea of faces staring at her. She could see the night sky above them and for the first time saw how massive the crowd was, stretching far out into the grassy field where the stage was set up. The familiar flutter of nervousness started bubbling up in her stomach but she fought it back down.

 

"We are Winter Hell! And winter is coming!" She growled loudly Into the microphone, she didn't know why she said it, it just felt right.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwRaNPMeYms)

 

Bran and Rickon started playing heavily and fast and she brought the microphone down from it's stand and took a stance.

 

" _When I get mad and I get pissed... I grab my pen and I write out a list... Of all the people that won't be missed! you've made my SHITLIST!_ " She sang in a deep voice almost growling until she shouted the last word.

 

" _Shiiiiiiiiiiiiitlist_ " she yelled out letting her voice vocalize a little at the end.

 

" _shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite LIST_ " she opened her mouth so wide to scream that she reopened her bloody lip and blood started to stain her lips.

 

" _For all the ones who bum me out_ " she growled.

 

" _Shitlist_ " Rickon sang in the background.

 

" _For all the ones who fill my head with doubt_ " she sang making a gun shape against her head with her fingers

 

" _Shitlist_ " Rickon repeated.

 

" _For all you squares who get me pissed_ " she yelled pointing in the direction where the sexist security guard held her up.

 

" _Shitlist_ " he sang again.

 

" _You've made my SHITLIST_ " she screeched out, she could taste blood and iron but it just fueled her more.

 

" _Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit list_ " her voice was angry and it rang out so loud she was sure Sansa could hear her all they in kings landing.

 

" _Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite list!_ " she opened her mouth and slowly stuck the microphone in it while she screamed. She could see mosh pit forming in the center if the crowd. Rickon took the lead by playing a long guitar solo giving Arya the chance to stomp and dance around on stage.

 

" _When I get mad and I get pissed_!" She sang in a much higher voice almost completely screaming now.

 

" _Shit list_ "Rickon and bran were both shouting in the background now.

 

" _I grab my pen and I write out a list_ !"

 

" _Shit list_ " they shouted in unison.

 

" _Of all you ASSHOLES who won't be missed_!" She was pointing to the mosh pit and by now half her face was covered in blood and the other half was drenched in sweat.

 

" _You've made my SHITLIST_ " she screamed then she noticed a guy carrying a large camera looking contraption following her every move from between the barrier keeping the audience from the stage.

 

They finished their set a few minutes later and Gendry was waiting for her on the side of the stage with a wet cloth for her face. The crowd was chanting for The Others which was no surprise considering how many white walkers were in the audience.

 

"Why was there a guy filming us ?" She asked after she cleaned the blood off her face.

 

"You haven't heard? Tyrion Lannister is turning the tour into a Lannister Entertainment production this year to try and bring up their viewership with a younger audience, they're even making it interactive so that people at home can vote in online and help pick a winner at the end, it's the first time they're trying it too so I guess we will see how it goes" Gendry explained. He saw the confusion still on her face so he put it in simpler terms for her drunken mind to process.

 

"Every performance we do is going to be televised all over Westeros" he said.

 

'Shit' was all she could think before she fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so in order of appearance. 
> 
> Danaerys and Khal Drogo is based on Christina Aguilera's music video Dirrty feat. Redman.  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rg3sAb8Id8
> 
> Jofferey Baratheon is based on Justin Beiber, and the song title I made up as I do not actually know any of his songs and since I refuse to watch his videos i wont provide a link, sorry I'm not sorry to all the beliebers I offend.
> 
> The Bastards sing Colossal by Wolfmother   
>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAShx8scZe8
> 
> Faceless men sing Broken Face by The Pixies  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEzifwSzNDg
> 
> The Flayed sing Girl Friend in a Coma by The Smiths. (I love them what happened in my story would never really happen)  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZYCKNYxmrY
> 
> The Others are based on Rammstein and I have no clue what they sing about but heres a link:   
>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzGKsXPBILw
> 
> Reeds sing Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTpw5XMnJig
> 
> The Wildlings sing Bad Boyfriend by Garbage (everything about Shirley Manson screams Ygritte to me)  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU3J6szn0aI
> 
> Winterhell sings Shitlist by L7  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwRaNPMeYms
> 
> thank you soooo much for reading and if you have any suggestions or requests i will gladly try to work them into the story as well !


	3. Riverrun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this chapter took a long time to write. I hope you enjoy it, once again I own nothing and I will provide links to any music references I make and I will provide the images that inspired the clothing for some of the characters which include dresses by Alexander Mcqueen (My fashion hero) and BCBG . Thank you for all of your supportive comments they really help to motivate me to write faster. The map I'm basing the tour on is the one found in front of the Game of Thrones book in case any of you were curious...

"Tyrion"

 

"Hello father"

 

"What is wrong with you?"

 

"Oh I don't think we have enough time in the day to get through all of my flaws, why don't you just tell me what I did wrong"

 

"I just saw that supposed 'show' that you want to air on our network..."

 

"And..."

 

"it's positively barbaric, we need to capture the younger viewers not savages"

 

"I told you it was a bit raw...I quite enjoy Bronn's… visual style"

 

"It's more than raw, it's still running wild. I'm sending Jamie out with a full camera crew, makeup and wardrobe. I admit this is a promising venture but there is no way I will ever show something like that on W.E.N."

 

"Well I appreciate the effort father but that’s what the tour is and it has a very strict and specific schedule to stick to, they don't have time to wait around for another crew"

 

"Yes. Well, that is why I've arranged for your brother to meet you in Riverrun, they were sent out two days ago and I’ve ordered preparations to start in Casterly Rock. We've already signed a contract with main Braavosi network to air the show live simultaneously in Westeros and Braavos, it’s going to be a very late night show over there, but they were surprisingly warm to this little ...idea of yours"

 

"Yes… Of course you have...I appreciate all the confidence you have in me"

 

"Don't be a little smartass Tyrion. Your mother sends her love and she herself is providing the wardrobe from her personal collection"

 

"You do realize there are only three women who will be performing right? I don't think the men will be willing to wear this season’s latest couture ..."

 

"That's not my problem Tyrion, it's yours."

 

"Father I promised Yoren that it wouldn't inter-"

 

"I don't care what you promised to that ingrate he doesn't understand the mechanics that go into running a successful television program, you'll do as I say and if they're smart they'll follow your lead. If that doesn't work then throw some money at the problem and move on!"

 

"Of course father...did you get the prune pie I sent you? It’s my personal favorite; mother mentioned your bowel troubles the last time we spoke..."

 

"Yes I did...thank you, that reminds me, stop sending your sister gift cards for cosmetic surgery. Tommen told me that she destroyed a two thousand year old antique chalice because of it"

 

"Hah… oh she knows I jest, no one could argue that her beauty is as unwavering and timeless as it ever was..."

 

"I can hear the sarcasm dripping in your voice Tyrion"

 

"Oh you wound me father, you know how much I love my family"

 

"If that's true then I expect a much more presentable show to air live tomorrow so you don't embarrass you beloved family"

 

"As you wish Mr. Lannister"

 

"Don't forget to call your mother"

 

_Click_

 

'Great now I’m going to have an angry mob of musicians on my hands, but it certainly won’t hurt to have the extra support' Tyrion thought to himself as he sighed deeply. A small beep followed by a vibration brought his attention back to his cell phone.

 

From: Shae 

I miss you my Lion love 

 

There was also a picture of her wearing a sheer nightgown making a kissy face toward the camera.

 

'Why did I have to go and fall in love with Sansa Stark's personal stylist?'

 

Then he looked at her picture again and remembered why.

 

'This plan has to work, the bands will have to get used to it, and they shouldn’t mind the excess exposure. I have to make this the most successful show the network has ever aired and make him so much money that if I married her instead of a wealthy heiress it wouldn't hurt the reputation of his legacy.’ he thought pinching the bridge of his nose.

 

'I have to do this quickly before my legacy grows in her womb and she won't be able to hide it anymore' he looked at her picture again and felt a familiar stir in his pants at the thought of her pregnant with his seed. Looking around his empty makeshift room in the moving bus he quickly reached into his pants.

 

'Only a month until I see her again' he thought imagining all the things he would do once he laid hands on his exotic beauty once again.

**Gendry**

 

The ride to Riverrun took most of the day and the bus was relatively quiet while they rested up from the night before. Gendry had his head against the window staring out as the scenery passed them by while he fiddled with his charcoal guitar, thoughts filled with silver gray eyes and messy brown hair.

 

“That sounds nice” Edric said through a yawn as he sank into the sofa seat next to Gendry, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Gendry hadn’t even realized that he was playing a simple tune.

 

It was already 3 in the afternoon and the busses had just entered Riverrun County.

 

“What’s the name of the venue we’re playing tonight?” Edric asked stretching his legs.

“Acorn Hall” Gendry answered eyeing his half-brother. They had only really known each other for 3 years and anyone who met them said they shared a strong resemblance to their father, but seeing as how neither of them knew the man it was hard to see for him personally.

 

Everything Gendry knew about Robert Baratheon, his absentee father, had been learned from scandalous tabloids exposing his incessant partying, drinking and whoring around. This resulted in him having a heart attack while eating a wild boar hoagie and dying fat and alone in his multi-million dollar home in Kingswood. At one point he had been known as the King of Rock n’ Roll, as a famous front man for a really important band but in his old age he had let his famous lifestyle consume him.

 

Apparently in his ridiculously complicated will he had demanded that his living brothers find every single child he sired and include them in his inheritance. At least that’s what his Uncle Stannis had said when they took him out of the orphanage in Flee bottom when he was sixteen. He had been taken to Dragonstone where he met Edric, another bastard, and his cousin Shireen who was Stannis’s daughter.

 

Gendry’s first time on a plane was on his uncles private jet that took him back and forth constantly from between the headquarter offices in King’s landing and Dragon Stone where he kept his family. Dragon Stone was so different from the dirty rat infested city it was a lot of rocks, open space, water and an inactive volcano.

 

And terribly boring, he completely understood why Shireen always had her nose buried in a book. It was fucked up to say but he almost felt like a pampered prisoner.

 

His other uncle Renly had come to meet him too, he was a consultant for Baratheon Records and it was quite obvious he was very gay even though he brought a pretty young woman with him claiming her to be his girlfriend. It didn’t bother Gendry either way he enjoyed Renly’s pleasant personality compared to his stoic Uncle Stannis who was the CEO of multiple companies including the famous Baratheon Record Company started and abandoned by his own father years ago.

 

Gendry inquired about Renly’s work and he just laughed and said he gets paid to do whatever he wants while Stannis runs the company.

 

 Suddenly his nostalgia was interrupted when Edric started snapping his fingers in his face.

 

“Hey bro you in there?” he asked him sarcastically. Gendry coughed to hide his embarrassment; he was known to get lost in his thoughts quite often.

 

“Yeah sorry I’m just … tired” he finished lamely.

 

“Traveling does make you really tired…”Edric said sympathetically with a nod of agreement.

 

“This is nothing, wait until we head up north, every town is so far apart that it takes days to drive between them and its always snowing …even during summer” Gendry said remembering the past year when he was on the verge of murdering his two closest childhood friends because they had spent way too much time contained in the bus together.

 

“That’s part of the challenge isn’t it?” Edric asked.

 

“Yeah the Nights Watch Tour has been known to break bands apart… I think Hot Pie had enough nervous breakdowns to get himself committed last year …but you’ll do alright” He replied clapping his brother on the shoulder as the color slightly drained from his face.

 

The bus slowly came to a halt and Hot Pie rushed off with incredible grace.

 

“Blackfish!” was all they heard.

 

**Arya**

 

“Blackfish!?” Arya asked in disbelief when she saw everyone filing into a very familiar building.

 

"Hey I think I remember this place! Didn't mom bring us here a long time ago?" Rickon said excitedly. Bran sighed deeply and Arya dropped her aching head in her hands and laughed at the irony.

 

"Yes she did bring us here, she brought us here every year when we came to visit her home town, and it’s owned by our Great Uncle Brynden ...he's a world renowned chef" Bran explained sadly knowing that they couldn't greet their mother’s favorite uncle.

 

"This is going to be rough" Arya said staring at the glass doors in front of them.

 

"No one said it would be easy" Bran remarked as they trekked inside.

 

Everything looked the same. Elegant white cloth tables with candles in the center and glass cups with fancy folded cloth napkins. Cozy and plush leather booths lined the walls and crystal chandeliers lit it up. Mostly every seat was already filled since they were the last ones to arrive.

 

They were greeted by a pretty girl with light brown hair and big brown eyes. She was probably around 18 years old and she had a small gap between her teeth.

 

"Welcome to Blackfish I'm Roslin, I will be your hostess. Please follow me "She said brightly walking to a half booth half table with the chairs removed to allow Bran to sit with his wheel chair.

 

"Can I get you something to drink while you make your decisions?" She asked with a smile.

 

"Water with lemon for all of us and the three Tully Catfish specials" Arya requested remembering what her mother always ordered for them.

 

"Oh …ok I will order that up right away for you" she said hesitating for only a second before collecting their untouched menus and walking away.

 

“why did you order that you idiot! Mother was the only one her Uncle made that for; if he sees us he will tell Aunt Lysa where we are! If I could kick you I would.” Bran whispered angrily to her.

 

“No he won’t… he’s old anyway, I doubt he’s even here” she said cursing her enthusiasm for the familiar food.

 

"I thought vegans didn't eat fish" a smooth voice whispered in her ear. She whipped her head around and was startled to see dark blue eyes boring into hers from a handsome face.

 

Gendry and his band mates were seated in the booth directly behind hers.

 

'The gods are mocking me' she thought, he was so close she could count the long eyelashes framing his ocean blue eyes.

 

Unexpectedly there was a loud bang from the kitchen before an elderly man’s face appeared in the small circular window of the door with his light blue eyes searching from under thick bushy eyebrows.

 

“oh well …ummm …we have to… go!” she exclaimed pushing Rickon out of the booth and running through the open glass door that Bran had already rushed through leaving Gendry confused as he watched the head chef of the restaurant come out, clearly scouring the tables before sadly returning to the kitchen.

 

Arya allowed herself one last glimpse of the familiar restaurant and the promise of delicious food before they rushed back to their bus.

 

**Gendry**

 

Acorn hall was about twenty minutes away from the main town of Riverrun so after their extravagant dinner they transported everyone over.  As they pulled up Gendry could see large trucks and vans with the Lannister Golden Lion logo on them already parked outside of the stone covered structure.

 

Tyrion Lannister was waiting for them and guiding each of the bands to where they were expected to be with a big smile. There was a boyish guy standing behind him snapping pictures of the bands as they shoved themselves inside.

 

Gendry could see a bunch of workers in Lannister red shirts setting up seats where the audience would normally stand and lighting up the short platform that made up the stage, making the once cozy and dim setting completely unbalanced. There were two large cameras on wheeled stands and there was even a projection of each of the cameras views on the side walls. 

 

He recognized the owner of the place, a woman named Ravella, walking around excitedly ordering the workers to fix various things.

 

“we’re going to get so much advertising” she yelled enthusiastically zipping by them with a trail of red shirts behind her like ducklings.

 

“is this normal?” Edric asked out loud. They had stopped following the other bands and just stood dumbfounded looking at the set up.

 

“No …this isn’t anything like last year” Gendry answered in shock.

 

“I think I’m going to be sick” Hot Pie said in a high voice a worker came and rushed them out of the way towards the back stage area.

 

‘what the fuck?’ Gendry thought to himself when they were shoved into a room where they were suddenly being undressed by a team of flamboyant men who would have made his uncle seem like straightest man in Westeros.

 

**Bran**

 

He could feel the rumbling in his stomach even more than before he scarfed down a bag of potato crisps.

 

Arya was angrier than he had seen her in a while until Rickon found a small bag of beef jerky on the bus and threw it at her face to shut her up.

 

She ate it greedily like a starving puppy, only offering him a small piece.

 

'its her fault anyway' he thought but he couldn't blame her. Being in Riverrun for the first time since their parents died was proving to be more difficult than they first imagined. Memories of their mother were everywhere.

 

Bran had to watch all the places he used run and climb pass him as he rolled by. A bit of resentment bubbled in his empty stomach making him eager for his drum sticks to beat out his frustrations.

 

Now they were being shoved into a crowded hallway with the rest of the bands.

 

"Women go down the hall, the door on your left" a random worker told them as they rushed by carrying a bundle of cords.

 

"What do they mean women? I have to separate from you guys? This is bullshit" Arya growled out in response.

 

"Where's Yoren?" Rickon asked trying to find him in the mass of people.

 

"Who knows …let's just go" Bran said wanting to get through the crowds quickly.

 

"Come in with me! Who's gunna give a shit!?" She exclaimed.

 

" The other girls… come on Arya make some female friends" Bran said leading the way.

 

They walked up to the only closed door on the left and suddenly two figures burst through the emergency exit door at the end of the brightly lit hall laughing hysterically.

 

He recognized the two members of Reeds, tall dirty blond guy in sunglasses and short curly brown haired girl. The guy stumbled face first towards the floor but she caught him and a new wave of laughter started between them.

 

"Hey!" the guy said waving once he noticed the three of them staring at them. In a blink they were right in front of them; goofy smiles plastered on their faces with eyes glassy and pink.

 

"You guys are Winterhell right? You guys… fucking... Rock" the blond kid said chuckling for no reason.

 

"Yeah... I'm Bran, this is Rickon and that's ... Cat" he said motioning to his siblings.

 

"I'm Jojen Reed and this is my sister Meera. As you can tell…she's the muscle and I'm the pretty face " he said laughing again at his own joke, Meera gave a little wave and a bright smile.

 

Bran looked at Meera and couldn't help but notice her pretty hazel eyes, her cute upturned nose and full lips. She was short but very fit and he was at perfect eye level with her soft looking chest. He could see the slight definition of her arm muscles but she was still very girly and the sight of her excited things in him he thought had long since died.

 

"Nice to meet you, you guys have an awesome sound." Bran said politely

 

"Hey man you're pretty cool, if you want, you can come with us to smoke a blunt after the show. I got some Fire and Ice chronic" Jojen offered pulling out a small glass bottle with light green fluffy leaves and shaking it.

 

"Oh thanks but we don't smoke" Bran answered but before he could finish Arya had already started sniffing the bottle to examine it.

 

She gave a nod of approval handing it back to them. The three of them weren't completely oblivious to the mind altering plant. They had two much older brothers, one of whom had a loud mouth friend who made his various drug uses very obvious. Even their health conscious hippie aunt had a plant of her own growing in her garden that she wouldn't let them near, not that it ever appealed to them anyway.

 

At least that's what he thought.

 

Jojen decided to walk with them to their waiting room, leaving the girls to whatever torture awaited for them behind the door.

 

**Arya**

 

She watched her brothers abandon her with a girl drummer that was more than likely baked out of her mind.

 

"Do you think they'll give us snacks in there?" Meera asked quietly staring at the door, neither one of them making a move to open it.

 

"I hope so” Arya responded standing still.

 

Suddenly the door burst open and a small pale woman with dark stick strait angular hair and gaunt eyes as large as saucers appeared before them. She was skinnier than a starving child and wore a simple cut dress that was exactly half black and half white, dark smudged eye shadow and pale lips.

 

She started speaking very fast in what Arya recognized was Braavosi and pulled them inside. The room was fairly small with one sofa, a lit up vanity that was already covered in makeup and hair products, and three long racks filled with clothing that was shoved along the walls.

 

Arya saw the lead singer of The Wildlings, Ygritte, sitting on the sofa looking around suspiciously like she was ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

 

"What's going on?" Arya heard herself ask.

 

"I wouldn't even begin to know what tell ya, I have no focking clue what she is saying but she's going to grope you in about five seconds" Ygritte warned in her thick northern accent.

 

Arya heard a small shriek and turned to see the thin woman wrapping a long cloth measuring tape around Meera’s bust, then her waist and along her arms and legs.

 

She barked something in Braavosi and shoved Meera toward the sofa.

 

"Gods why is she so mean?" Meera whispered angrily sitting next to Ygritte.

 

Arya stood stiffly letting her measurements be taken and trying to pick out words in Braavosi that she could remember from Syrio. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly at Arya’s thin torn up band shirt then disappeared between the racks of clothing still muttering to herself.

 

The door opened again and a busty redhead walked in. She wore all black and dangerously high heals.

 

"Oh good you're all here!" She exclaimed seeing them. They didn’t say anything they just stared at her apprehensively.

 

"I'm Ros; I'll be doing your hair and makeup. Oh and that over there is the Waif, we call her that because no one can pronounce her name, and she'll be in charge of your wardrobe" she said walking to the vanity while tying a belt around her hips that held what looked like a hundred different brushes of all shapes and sizes.

 

"Who's up first?" Ros asked brightly. Arya, Meera and Ygritte just looked at each other in a silent dare until Ros took out a small card from her back pocket.

 

"Let's see here... Who's Meera?" Ros asked and Meera’s pink eyes widened as Arya and Ygritte watched her walk and sit on tall stool in front of the vanity.

 

Ros worked insanely fast. She had Meera’s brown curly hair clipped and separated in no time at all and alternated between ironing her hair and cleaning her face. The waif came out holding a handful of dresses and gently laid them under Meera’s chin before shaking her head and saying something that sounded like a curse.

 

“My gods girl…. have you ever had your eyebrows done?” Ros asked loudly making Ayra subconsciously touch her own thick eyebrows. She never worried much over them before but seeing Ros get out a long thin string, wrapping intricately between her fingers before applying it to Meera’s face and fidgeting quickly made her wish she had paid attention when her sister tried to show her.

 

“Owwwch, this is a total buzzkill” Meera said flatly but Ros continued her assault on her face.

 

 “Why are they doing this to us?” Arya asked in a whispered when she sat next to Ygritte on the sofa.

 

“I don’t focking know… I’m as oblivious as you” she replied but Arya highly doubted that, Ygritte looked strong and confident; she was at least in her early twenties and unconventionally pretty. Her aqua blue eyes were alittle too far apart but they held a shadow of anger, hurt and betrayal that made her look all the more ferocious.

 

There was a knock at the door and the waif quickly opened it letting in a very tall golden blond haired man, followed by an even taller white blond haired woman.

 

"Now why was I was under the impression that there would be more females here?" he questioned.

 

It took a second but Arya easily recognized the Lannister heir and twin brother to the woman that made her parent's life a living hell for half a year. Luckily the only time they met each other was when she was very small, so he wouldn't likely recognize her.

 

"You lied to me" Jamie said to the tall blond next to him, but she just ignored him and smiled brightly at them.

 

They looked like sharp sophisticated couple, he wore a perfectly tailored suit and she wore a pristine long sleeved black dress that came up to her neck and had an intricate loose gold chain mill across her chest stopping at the thick gold belt at her waist.

 

"Hello ladies I've just come by to introduce myself. I am Jamie Lannister "he gave a cocky half bow towards them making the woman next to him roll her eyes dramatically.

 

" I am going to be a producer of this... Show? Would you call it a show? It's a traveling music tour but also a battle of the bands and now it's going to be shown live? What you would call that?" He asked turning his green eyes to the woman next to him and apparently forgetting that he was talking to the rest of them.

 

"Yes it's a show, I believe Tyrion is calling it 'The Songs of Battle'" she responded in a low but confident voice still smiling professionally.

 

"Huh, well… I'll be here... Making sure things are happening the way they should, so if you have any questions I'll gladly answer them for you" he said moving his eyebrows animatedly and clapping his hands in front of him.

 

"I hav' a question. Why do all the southern men look like pretteh girls?" Ygritte asked in her loud rough northern voice.

 

Arya burst out laughing uncontrollably next to her causing Meera to snicker as much as she could while Ros applied her foundation. Even his companion yielded a chuckle.

 

"There must be something in the water" he responded sounding amused.

 

"Why is all ...this... happening? And how will it affect our original contracts?” Arya asked motioning to Ros and the racks of clothes with her hand.

 

"Ah that, well we just thought it would be nice to give you all nice makeovers to get you camera ready. Don’t worry your pretty head about the contracts…" he said obviously expecting gratitude and praise but only receiving silent glares.

 

"Ahem…Quick Brienne… give them the presents. This wench here is my secretary Brienne" he said slowly moving back while shoving her forward.

 

"Executive assistant" she corrected before digging into a gift bag and pulling out three slim cell phones.

 

"Gifts from Lannister Inc., you'll have complimentary phone service for a year" she explained as she handed one to each of them.

 

"Hey I recognize you now... You're the one that won that modeling competition show...I completely forgot the name… hot model? No that’s not it…." Meera said to Brienne when she got close.

 

Brienne blushed and nodded her head affirming Meera's observation. Jamie laughed and came up behind her wrapping an arm around her waist.

 

“Yes it's hard to believe but this lovely swan was once the ugly duckling scouted for her height in a mall of all places. When we first got ahold of her she wore lumberjack flannel shirts, she had a bowl cut and the most unflattering pair of jeans I've ever seen on a human being. Then she single handedly crushed her competition with her androgynous looks" he said looking up at her proudly.

 

She wore tall elegant looking high heels that made her a whole head taller than Jamie.

 

"And now she's your secretary?" Arya questioned raising an eyebrow.

 

"Well I was never interested in modeling, it just fell into my lap but I was always interested in business and my father was a great business man, so it's a bit like following in his footsteps. I actually wanted to work for Baratheon Records but it wasn't quite the right.. Fit. Sometimes you have to start at the bottom to get on top" Brienne explained kindly but Arya was startled to see Jamie giving her a narrowed look.

 

" you look very familiar, have we met?" He asked Arya. She quickly tried coming up with a possible explanation in her mind when Brienne suddenly brought his attention back to her.

 

"Oh Jamie you say that about all the pretty girls you meet, come on now you still have to greet the men so let's leave the girls to finish up, they have a lot to get through. Enjoy your phones!" She said quickly shoving Jamie through the door but not before offering a reassuring wink to Arya.

 

She didn't know if she should be grateful or alarmed.

 

"They're focking" Ygritte announced once the door was fully closed.

 

**Gendry**

 

He couldn’t shake the nervousness that was starting to creep like a chill in his blood. This wasn’t like a normal gig and he didn’t feel like himself.

 

He had gel in his hair for fucks sake.

 

He barely escaped the clutches of the glitzy men who were trying to dress everyone with a plain button up white shirt and black slacks. Of course the button up white shirt didn’t have buttons all the way up so it left his chest exposed and it was extremely tight.

 

 “Gendry!” he heard someone shout from down the hall where he was hiding with his guitar.

 

He turned to see his uncle Renly smiling brightly at him as he walked toward him.

 

“I knew I’d see you here” he said giving Gendry a hug. They were so much alike they even shared the same height; Edric was a few inches shorter than them. 

 

“what are you doing here Uncle Renly?” Gendry asked curiously.

 

“well I’ll have you know I’m on official business representing the family company….haha I’m just kidding my boyfriend is hosting the show so I’m tagging along to keep him company and to make sure he stays out of trouble.” he said flashing his a perfectly white smile.

 

“ Nice… Uncle Stannis sent you to keep an eye on us didn’t he?” Gendry said with a smile, glad to know his uncle was being honest with him, but also hit with the strange sensation of having people to worry after him now.  

 

“you caught me…what about you? The fans treating you well?” he asked with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrow making Gendry scoff at the absurdity. 

 

Suddenly there was a loud slam further down the hallway.

 

“THAT’S IT I'M DONE!” a female shouted as she stumbled out of the doorway zipping up her knee high boots in the process and quickly walking toward them.

 

Gendry’s breath caught in his constricted chest when he realized the figure walking toward them was the same girl who had been occupying his thoughts since he first laid eyes on her.

 

They had strapped her in and impossibly tight and short dress made of cut up leather shapes being held together by black leather belts clasped with bulky gold fasteners around her waist. The dress trailed unevenly around her thighs leaving her long creamy legs exposed until it stopped at her knee high black boots.   

 

“close your mouth” Renly whispered while he nudged him with his shoulder before she could reach them.

 

“They fucking glued my nipples into this dress! can you believe that?!” she exclaimed standing right in front of him so had absolutely no choice but to look at the little budding peaks begging for his attention. He tried to clear his throat and avert his eyes to her bare shoulders but somehow they trailed back down to the exposed valley between her small breasts.

 

“Who are you?” She asked curiously as her eyes averted between him and his uncle, momentarily forgetting her anger.

 

“I’m Renly Baratheon, representing Baratheon Records, I was just here asking this young gentleman where the restroom was and now I must be off! Nature calls!” Renly replied giving her an award winning smile and rushing down the hallway behind her.

 

Gendry eyed him and had to suppress giving him a narrowed look when his uncle turned around giving him thumbs up and nodding approvingly behind her back.

 

“Ugh these extensions are making my scalp itch” she complained scratching the new addition of long dark brown hair at the nape of her neck.

 

His attention was on her face now; she looked perfectly groomed with polished and powdered skin and her gray eyes surrounded by black and smoky gray eye shadow and lips… her lips stained with dark red. Her hair was neater than he’d ever seen and the darkness made her skin look like porcelain.

 

“You look nice” he said thickly making her huff and roll her pretty eyes.

 

“I look like a dead oak tree” She said bringing his eyes back to her revealing dress. Now that he looked closely he could see the shapes were actually in the shapes of leaves and bits of her pale flesh peeking out from between said leaves.

 

“You look like a nice oak tree, you smell nice too” he said before he even realized he had leaned over to sniff her.

 

“I got away without heals this time, if they want to break my neck they can just do it themselves and save me the humiliation” he could see her blushing slightly as she looked down at her shoes. 

 

“ What did they do to your hair?” he asked reaching out to tug one of the longer pieces.

 

“It’s a clip in… extension… it’s fake…what did they do to yours?” she asked laughing and reach up to ruffle his stiff hair. The feeling of her raking her hands through his sticky hair while she looked like that was almost too much, he had to suppress the image of him pinning her to wall and ravishing her long neck wildly that had suddenly taken over his brain.

 

A loud growling sound ripped his thoughts away from her intoxicating scent and the tingles that shot from where her fingers touched him straight to his groin.

 

“You haven’t eaten yet?” he asked when he realized the sound was coming from her midsection.

 

“No I haven’t… stupid” she responded making her insult almost sound endearing.

 

“They didn’t have food in your dressing room? They had platters of sandwiches and donuts waiting in ours. I saw your brothers gorging themselves I assumed they would have that for the women too” Gendry explained.

 

“What?! Those fucking pricks, they only had water and energy drinks for us… and these stupid phones that don’t even work” she said angrily pulling out a slim black rectangle from her inside her boot.

 

“Yeah they gave us all one too… guess it’ll make it easier for them to track any deserters, let me see yours” Gendry said pulling out his identical phone from his pocket and taking hers from her hand. She hadn’t even set it up yet so he quickly did it for her and entered his own number while taking hers.

 

“What did you do?” she asked when he handed it back to her.

 

“I just set it up for you… should be able to work now and I put my number in there, in case you ever need help… or something” he said awkwardly as she fiddled with the new gadget in her hands.

 

“Now if only this thing could get me food” she muttered tapping the screen furiously.

 

“Come with me, I’ll try to swipe something for you, what can’t vegans eat anyway?” he asked leading her down the hall. He didn’t have much time he could already hear applause and the sound of someone announcing something.      

 

“To be honest I’m not really a vegan… and I wasn’t by choice, I am very much a meat eater but we used to live with our aunt and she was a bit of a health … nut? She thinks anything processed is poisonous so she didn’t eat or feed us anything that didn’t come from her garden. She used to show us slaughterhouse videos online it was… kinda crazy. It worked on Rickon mostly, then somehow she found out how accessible porn was on the internet and that went out the window too..” she explained as they reached their destination.

 

“Oh …so that’s why you couldn’t keep your face away from my meat” Gendry muttered.

 

“What?”

 

“nothing”

 

He sent her further down closer to the stage entrance to avoid having the rest of the performers ogle her while he slipped inside making a beeline through the crowd of men getting ready, toward the food table that was nearly depleted. He managed to grab the last two glazed donuts, being the least messy.

 

‘I don’t think she’d go back to that dressing room even if someone put a gun to her head’ he thought wrapping them in a napkin when he noticed the large television that had been wheeled in, no doubt showing what it was going to look like for viewers at home.

 

He rushed back outside and found that she had wandered over to a small television that was most likely there for a producer or someone else in charge.

 

Her stormy eyes lit up hungrily at the sight of him and he had to remind himself that she wanted to eat the donuts he was holding, not his cock.

 

He watched her torment him by slowly and carefully tearing bites off the pastry and catching the glaze on the corner of her mouth with her tongue. He felt himself lick his own lips to stop himself from leaning forward and messing up hers.

 

He had to subtly adjust his pants when she moaned in delight finishing her snack and licking her sticky fingers. He forced himself to look at the small television not wanting to have to perform live in front of all of Westeros with a raging boner.

 

The screen switched from blue to the view of a man’s back who was facing the audience. He turned around towards the camera and smiled brightly bringing a microphone to his lips.

 

“Welcome to ‘The Songs of Battle’ I’m your host Loras Tyrell and we are coming at you LIVE from Acorn Hall in Riverrun with the Night’s Watch Tour!” They could hear his voice projected throughout the entire building being drowned out by the sudden burst of applause that suddenly died down again.  

 

“Don’t forget to vote for your favorite bands at tSoB.net to help them win the grand prize at the end of the tour. Now I am very pleased to present to you the first band of the night. Brotherhood without Banners!” He announced with an outstretched hand as the camera panned over the audience to show the band on stage.   

 

Gendry had remembered the large band from the year before Beric Dondarrion taking center stage at the microphone, Thoros and Angay holding guitars. Harwin holding his bass and Lem was behind his drumset. Sometimes Tom would join in adding an extra instrument but it seemed he took tonight off.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdCEPhNBnrM)

 

“ _I am smellin' like the rose…. that somebody gave me… on my birthday deathbed_ … _I am smellin' like the rose_ … _that somebody gave me_ …. _'cause I'm dead & bloated”_ Beric sang in fast snarl before the band joined in at once.  

 

Gendry tried to enjoy the song as much as he could. He was actually a fan of the brotherhood, but then he felt her moving to the rhythm beside him.

 

His eyes traveled from the screen to the girl beside him on their own accord.

 

She caught him staring and elbowed him between his ribs but his groan of pain was drowned out by the heavy music surrounding them.

 

Suddenly a flash brightened behind her and they turned to see the guy with a boyish face giving them a toothy grin as he checked the picture on his expensive looking camera.

 

His toothy grin faded when he saw their murderous glares. He snapped another quick photo of them before quickly disappearing down the hall.

 

"What the fuck was that?!" He could barely hear her scream over the sound of Thoros' guitar solo and he just shrugged; a lot of this was new for him too.

 

The brotherhood finished their set and Loras Tyrell signaled a commercial break. Gendry turned to see his band mates rushing toward him.

 

Edric and Lommy looked sharp in their pressed and expensive shirts but it seemed like the queens didn't really know how to handle Hot Pie. He was wearing large sunglasses and an extremely loud, busy shirt that was left half unbuttoned. His curly hair was gelled out into spikes, his look was all over the place but he wore it with the confidence of a swimsuit model.

 

"Hey there you are Gendry, we're up next...who is this? oh it's just you lumpy head " Lommy said patting Cat on the head condescendingly and she kicked him in the shins in return making Gendry laugh.

 

"Stay here all right, don't go wandering off like you did in Harrenhal" Gendry warned as he gripped the neck of his guitar and followed his friends on stage. He turned back and saw her holding up her middle finger at him still looking stunning as ever.

 

Everything seemed so different now. The lights were bright and different colors along with the standard spot light; the audience wasn't surrounding them on foot anymore getting ready to dance to their tunes, instead there were cameras in his face and an audience sitting behind those cameras.

 

They sound checked their instruments and the camera turned to face the host standing among the audience. Gendry saw the cameraman raise his hand and silently count down with his fingers.

 

"Welcome back to The Songs of Battle, up next are The Bastards!" Loras exclaimed excitedly and suddenly the camera was on them again.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgLqRvpygmk)

 

Gendry started plucking a tune that he warbled with his wa-wa pedal a few times before Hot Pie joined in setting a moderate beat and Lommy and Edric started playing along with their tranquil tune. Visions from the re-accruing dream that inspired this particular song flooded behind his eyes as he stared into the spotlight

 

Dirty canals under an ancient city, a shaggy brunette dressed in rags whose face was hidden by shadows

 

" _I heard the truth was built to bend_ " he slowly sang in a low soothing voice like he was trying to coax a frightened animal.

 

" _A mechanism to suspend .. The guilt_ " sometimes he would wake up from those dreams with his stomach twisted in knots and unknown guilt clawing at his throat but something in his heart would tell him it's what she felt.

 

" _Is what you are requiring ... Still you've got …to Dance Little Liar"_ in his dreams she would dance, not for him or anyone else but just because.

 

" _Just like those fibbs that pop and fizzzzz... And you'll be forced to take that awful quiz"_ it was a lying game she would play with a skeletal figure cloaked in black and white.

 

" _And you’re bound to trip and she'll detect the fiction on ... Your lips and dig a contradiction up_ " he would watch her fail and be forced to drink potions or poisons he usually couldn't tell.

 

" _And the clean coming will hurt and you can never get it spotless_..." The most disturbing thing he witnessed was her cutting herself and using her blood to seal the skinned face of a stranger onto hers in the shadows of where her face should be.

 

" _Where there's dirt beneath the dirt... The liar takes a lot less time_ " he opened his eyes he hadn't realized had shut when he sang and looked into the camera briefly wondering if Cat was still watching him as Lommy vocalized hauntingly in the background.

 

" _I'm sure it's clear and plain to me... It's not an alibi you need just yet... Oh no ...it's something for those beads of sweat... Yes that ...will get you back to normal_ " his visions would turn violent when he saw this faceless girl calculate and murder other strangers he would never know.

 

" _And after you have dabbed the patch you'll grieve ...And then proceed to scratch.... the varnish off …_ _That newly added calmness ... So as not to raise any alarms too soon_ " he could tell she was biding her time, gaining skills to finish something she didn't start.

 

" _And the clean coming will hurt ...And you can never get it spotless ...When there's dirt beneath the dirt ..."_ Everything about her world was dirty, sometimes he felt grimy waking up, they all stopped playing giving Hot Pie his brief solo before they joined in again.

 

" _The liar takes a lot less ...Time to decide on his saunter ...Have you got itchy bones ...And in all your time alone ....Can you hack your mind being riddled ....with the wrong memories..._ " He sang a little faster now and made a point to connect with the audience that he could see swaying with their melody and gaze into the camera when he could instead of drowning in her magical torment.

 

Tearing into his guitar and tripping up the sound effects he added, he played a long solo before repeating the chorus one more time as hauntingly as he could before they let Hot Pie play out the ending with another short solo.

 

The dreams confused him greatly he didn't understand why they plagued him, so instead of trying to understand he just used it for inspiration, his faceless friend was his muse.

 

**Arya**

 

"You look flushed" someone said from behind her.

 

She was intently staring at Gendry on the tiny screen as he sang with that voice of his that did strange things to her body. Things like making her skin hot and her breath shallow.

 

She forced her eyes away from Gendry's guitar solo and looked over her bare shoulder to see the host of the show, Loras, standing there in a perfect almost shining gray suit

 

"What do you mean?" She asked trying to hide her obvious attraction.

 

"I must say you do have good taste" he said with a smirk making her blush even more.

 

"What!? Him? Don't be ridiculous... I mean ... Would you look at that body?... It's... it's. ... Stupid... No ...no ...no you've got it all wrong " she stammered out breathlessly almost losing her train of thought when he looked directly into the camera.

 

"Relax little girl I don't really care, I'm just teasing you. Oh that's my queue, bye!" And with that he was gone as fast as he had popped up leaving Arya to wallow in an unknown territory of her mind.

 

The sound of applause from the audience was deafening when she spotted him walking toward her, all sweaty and bright eyed. She forced her eyes to look away from the outlines of his strong ab muscles and into his eyes making him smile widely at her.

 

She saw him wave off his band mates who were most likely going back to the waiting room before coming to stand right in front of her.

 

Her eyes followed a drop of sweat that slowly made its way down his long solid neck to his smooth concrete chest, her nose was filled with an enticing scent she could only associate with him.

 

“How did we do?” he asked and she could almost feel it rumble from him. She rolled her eyes and turned away from him before she jumped his bones.

 

“You looked great, I’m sure you’ll have a line of bastard blowers waiting at your bus for you…. You had a nice song too …but we’re definitely going to take you down this round” she said with a confident smirk, bitterly remembering the insulting things that the Harrenhal security guard had accused her of being.

 

“Who told you about the Bastard blowers?” he asked looking adorably confused with his thick eyebrows knit together.

 

“don’t worry about it” she said with a shrug, knowing it would further irritate him. She was right.  

 

“I’m parched, I’m going to go find something to drink. Do you want something?” He asked giving her a weird look.

 

“yeah I could use a drink” she replied, following him to the male waiting room.

 

She saw the next band pass them by, The Faceless Men, and again she caught the streaked haired bassist staring at her. He raised his eyebrow almost approvingly when they passed each other.

 

She glanced at Gendry to find him glowering at the exchange; he really did look like a raging bull, all furious and sweaty. The sight made her belly feel excessively warm.

 

“Check on my brothers” she yelled before he disappeared behind the door.

 

He quickly re-emerged holding two glass bottles and a can of dragons blood.

 

“Your brothers are still waiting to get ready; they’ll come find you when they’re done… I think Rickon might be wasted” he explained handing her the energy drink, which she promptly switched for a bottle of beer.

 

“Of course he is he’s wild.” She responded twisting the cap off and drinking deeply.

 

“I need some fresh air, wanna join me outside. You’ve got some time to kill” he offered. It was true, she didn’t have to stand around but she certainly wasn’t waiting in the dressing room with Ros and the waif.  

 

“Yeah there’s an exit down that way that I’m pretty sure we can come back through” she said leading him down the opposite way.

 

She spotted Meera emerging from their dressing room carefully like she was escaping. She tip toed towards them as quietly as she could in her tall thick heals. Her shiny brown hair was straight and almost reached the middle of her back and the patched together green and blue hues of the sheer dress flowing dress they decided on along with the colorful eye shadow Ros used made her hazel eyes glimmer like jade.

 

“hey have you seen my brother?” she asked in a hushed whisper.

 

“Why are you whispering? I haven’t seen him he’s probably being done up” Arya responded glancing at Gendry out of the corner of her eye to see him reading the can of dragons blood with great interest.

 

“Ygritte hasn’t liked anything the waif tried to dress her in, so they’ve been arguing and I honestly can’t understand what either of them are saying so I just slipped out when Ros joined in” Meera explained looking paranoid as she glanced behind her.

 

“well the men’s waiting room is back down that way, they gave them food too, you might be able to still get some” She said pointing her in the right direction.

 

“What? they gave the guys food but not us? Those asswipes” Meera exclaimed at full volume before rushing past them angrily.

 

Arya sniggered and continued to lead him towards the exit, rushing past the shouting door of her dressing room and out into the brisk night air. She found a large rock to hold the door open for them and gazed out into the trees surrounding the concrete parking lot.

 

 

“it feels good out here, aren’t you cold?” Gednry asked eyeing her dress.

 

“Hah! No way! I was born up north, my skin is tougher than your dainty southern skin” she said proudly with a bark of laughter.

 

“I don’t think anyone has ever referred to me as being dainty in my entire life” he said looking slightly puzzled.

 

“get used to it Prince-ss Gendry” she said mockingly before chugging down some more beer.

 

“keep it up m’lady, mess with me and you get the horns” he threatened lightly earning him a sharp punch in the arm. He just laughed at her and leaned against the stone wall of the building looking at her.

 

They could still hear the muffled music leaking through the walls. She almost couldn’t believe that she was having a beer dressed like this with someone she used to follow around when she was pretending to be boy.

 

“So you’re a northerner? Where do you hail from?” He asked when she came to lean next to him

 

“Winterfell, it’s the second to last stop on the tour” she explained.

 

“Oh wow, yeah I remember that place from last year, It’s a resort town right? I remember there being lots of mansions and hot springs. Guess that explains the name of your band too” he said thoughtfully.

 

“I could show you some real hot springs, not those bubbling pools they have for the tourists. it’s been so long since we’ve been home, I guess we’re just homesick” she could feel the familiar beer buzz come along making her words loose.

 

“you must be really rich to come from that town” he said almost like it was a bad thing and giving her a hard look.

 

“I’m not rich! …well I mean my parents were rich… but they died anyway so it doesn’t even fucking matter” she said defensively making his cobalt eyes soften. 

 

“ I’m sorry” he said gently.

 

“Stupid, it’s not your fault. They died in a car accident… Bran wasn’t wearing his seat belt again, even though mom constantly told him to, so when the car hit a patch of black ice and caused it to swerve he flew out and hit a tree. He broke his back and now he can never walk again. My dad was decapitated by the hood of the car and my mom somehow got her throat split open at some point and I ended up with her in the river where I almost drowned” the words fell out of her mouth before she could even think about stopping them. He was just there staring at her with his mouth open, unable to say anything.

 

“Rickon was with my older brothers at home in Winterfell, luckily someone saw the whole thing and called for help, otherwise Bran and I probably would have died too” she continued before finishing off her bottle and throwing it to the ground making it shatter a few feet away. She stole the one hanging limply from his hand and started downing that too.

 

“What about you?” She asked hoping to break him from whatever silence spell her story put him under.

 

“I never knew my parents, I was in an orphanage for thirteen years before an estranged uncle found me, told me I was a bastard and that my father was already dead.” He said watching her.

 

“What about your mother?”

 

“What about my mother?”

 

“Well who was she?”

 

“I don’t know she was just my mother I suppose”

 

“I’m sorry about your father dying before you could meet him” she said truthfully.

 

“Its alright, I got to meet my half-brother and he’s more useful to me than some fat old drunk” Gendry said before stealing his bottle back and drinking from it.

 

“I have a half-brother too. My older brother, Jon, he’s my best brother” She said smiling sadly.

 

“I’m telling Bran and Rickon when I see them” he teased and she just laughed.

 

“they already know” she said before opening the little can of Dragons Blood.  

 

“So what happened to your treasured brother?” Gendry questioned with only a hint of jealousy.

 

“He’s up north at Castle Black University studying Law. My other brother Robb is at film school in Braavos” she said watching him make a pained face.

 

“I hear Castle Black is insanely strict. You have to be really disciplined to go there since they specialize in training your mind and body. I hear there’s even secret societies that make you take crazy oaths” he said.

 

“Yeah he’s passionate about justice and upholding the law, which is funny because he rocks out to the angriest kind of music. He’s been there for four years already, he’s almost done.” She said with a smile

Gendry finished his drink and threw it to the ground like she had done earlier.

 

“We better head back in before your little brother’s start to wonder where you are” Gendry said making his way to the door and opening it to let her through.

 

**Jon**

 

He was fucked.

 

Absolutely fucked.

 

He had an exam first thing in the morning for the hardest class he was taking this last quarter and his teacher was just dying to find a reason to fail him.

 

But that wasn't the problem, the problem was that while he was trying to cram valuable information in his mind, his roommate's very pregnant girlfriend was watching television in the other room at full volume making it almost impossible to concentrate.

 

He wanted to tell her to lower it but she had been extra sensitive and overtly emotional lately. Ever since she had a meltdown because he had asked her if she ate his box of crispy yum yums he had been avoiding all interaction with her .

 

His stomach growled angrily at him and he realized he hadn't eaten since the morning. He slowly cracked his door open to peek out and let out a sigh of relief when he saw Sam sitting on the couch with Gilly giving her a foot rub.

 

"Hey John, I haven't seen you all day. I got pizza if you're hungry help yourself" Sam offered with a kind smile when he emerged from his room. Jon knew Sam was more than prepared for the exam and wouldn't be worrying like he was to try and memorize everything.

 

Jon grabbed a slice and plopped down in a plush chair watching a commercial for some sort of cosmetic.

 

"What are we watching" Jon asked only half interested; he had heard a lot of muffled music and cheering behind his door.

 

"Haven't you heard? They're doing a live show of the Nights Watch Tour. They're even letting people vote in online to help their favorite band win" Sam explained excitedly. Jon sat up in his seat with a little more interest.

 

He had made it a point of going to see the concert finale of the Nights Watch tour for the past three years.

 

'If it wasn't for the Nights Watch I would still be a virgin' he thought viciously tearing into his pizza with his teeth.

 

The screen blinked back to a smiling figure standing in an audience.

 

"You're watching The Songs of Battle on the one and only W.E. Network. I am pleased to present up next ... The Wildlings!!!"

 

The pizza in his hand splattered on their wooden floor but he couldn't even begin to worry about that.

 

'What the hells is she doing on TV?'

 

Ygritte was glaring into the camera standing behind a microphone wearing a long black gown made of sheer strips of material making her look like she was surrounded by smoke as she swayed to the music. Her fiery red hair glimmered in the colorful lights around her and her steel blue eyes were darkened by the heavy makeup around her eyes.

 

She opened her painted blood red lips to sing and he felt a lump forming in the back of his throat.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locBtYh90-0)

 

" _I would die for you....I would die for you...I've been dying just to feel you by my side...To know that you're mine_ " The last time he saw her she was overdosing on milk of the poppy and being wheeled into an emergency room of the local hospital.

 

" _I will cry for you....I will cry for you...I will wash away your pain with all my tears....And drown your fear_ " gods she looked beautiful and she never took her eyes away from the camera as she sang.

 

" _I will pray for you....I will pray for you...I will sell my soul for something pure and true....Someone like you_ " it was his fault, he should have never gotten involved with her, at least not while he was still attending Castle Black.

 

" _See your face every place that I walk in....Hear your voice every time I am talking....You will believe in me …And I will never be ignored.._." She was supposed to be in rehab for the next 2 months.

 

" _I will burn for you...Feel pain for you…I will twist the knife and bleed my aching heart....And tear it apart_ " She sang with so much emotion, he quickly looked over at Gilly to see her looking as shocked as he was.

 

" _I will lie for you....Beg and steal for you...I will crawl on hands and knees until you see...You're just like me_ " that was definitely her, no doubt about it.

 

" _Violate all The love that I'm missing ...Throw away all the pain that I'm living...You will believe in me...And I can never be ignored_ " she was still mad, he could see it in her eyes. He fucked everything up and she completely misunderstood everything.

 

" _I would die for you. I would kill for you....I will steal for you...I'd do time for you...I would wait for you...I'd make room for you....I'd sail ships for you...To be close to you...To be a part of you...'Cause I believe in you...I believe in you_ " her voice was so beautiful and he could still hear her strong accent, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face nor could he stop the tears forming in his eyes at the vision of her on the screen.

 

" _I would die for you."_ She snarled out while still managing to sound graceful and then suddenly she was gone.

 

"Did you know about this?!" He demanded once he controlled his senses.

 

Gilly was Ygritte's only close female friend.

 

"Well she said something about going on an adventure but I thought she was still …you know ...just out of it" Gilly said very worryingly.

 

"Isn't that how you two met? She's very talented so maybe it's a good thing she pursued it" Sam interjected logically with a kind smile.

 

"Of course she is! she's fucking brilliant, the problem is who in their right bloody mind would take someone who is struggling with a drug problem and surround them with it! My dad was in a band I know exactly what goes on backstage, drugs are thrown around like candy!" Jon was frantic he could feel it gnawing at him so he started pacing around the room. Visions of her pale a blue with a adrenaline needle sticking out of her heart were all he could think about. 

 

"Jon" Sam called out softly

 

"What?" he snapped.

 

"If I didn't know better I could swear that's your little sister and your brothers" he explained carefully making Jon's head snap back to the tv.

 

"Arya!?"

 

**Arya**

 

Rickon was definitely drunk. His guitar was hanging low around his knees as he bent over to play it and his curly hair would have covered his face if it hasn't been slicked up with various hair products.

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBbeqUpEGA)

 

 It didn't deter his ability to get a nice hip swaying tune started. They were dressed in all black and Bran wore a leather vest over his long sleeve black button up.

 

Arya had already tossed aside the microphone stand and started wrapping the long chord around her neck while her brothers played the intro.

 

" _All my loves are... hidden in pieces_ " she smiled wickedly into the camera as she sang in a low growl until visions of her headless dad and her mother torn apart from her throat flashed before her eyes.

 

" _All my loves are... Within a wild night"_ the endless night would haunt her with horrible nightmares, sometimes she would see Robb's headless body galloping through flames with giant wolf head on.

 

" _All my loves are... hidden in pieces_ " Sometimes she would see Jon getting stabbed repeatedly by men cloaked in black other times it would be Sansa being helplessly beaten down by a group of men tearing at her dress.

 

“ _All my loves are… within a wild night_ ” She stopped singing and let Rickon break down a short solo while she danced around making it difficult for the camera to capture her.

 

“ _All my loves are… hidden in pieces_ ” she sang this time with a little more force, for Bran’s broken legs and Rickon’s broken spirit.

 

“ _All my loves are … within a WILD NIGHT_ ” she was growling again and her eyes were screwed shut.

 

She tightened the cord around her neck while she repeated the verse again before Rickon broke down another solo. Allowing her to dance around the stage, she was grateful that her dress was literally fused to her body allowing her to be free, but not too free.  

 

“ _If they’re still up high… We’ll throw them to the sea…If they’re still on high…. We’ll throw them to the sea..._ ” She unwrapped the cord and whipped it toward the camera, then used to her left hand to point north and east.

 

“ _If they’re still up HIGH!  We’ll throw them to the sea! …watch the murder of the Watch to the music of the deep! Owwwwwwww_ ” She opened her mouth and let the microphone slowly in and let her voice ring out as long as she could.

 

“ _WILD NIGHT!”_ she repeated in different octaves and tones while she thrashed herself around the small setup as much as she could without knocking into her brothers.

 

“ _Within a wild night_ ” She sang in low voice as she closed in on the camera with a wild look on her face.

 

The camera man made a cutting signal with his hand and she dropped the microphone and walked off stage, followed by the burst of cheers and applause that exploded from the audience.  

 

She was all sweaty and sure that her makeup was a mess but she still found Gendry standing next to the small screen near the exit holding a cold water bottle for her, smiling almost too brightly it made her eyes hurt.

 

The audience called for an encore from Brotherhood without Banners so they were all sent back to change and start packing up to go.

 

Arya had never been so grateful to wear jeans, converse and an old t shirt in her entire life.

 

She was pushing and riding on the back of Bran’s wheelchair with Rickon stumbling behind them on their way back to their bus when they heard someone clear their throat loudly.

 

Arya abruptly pulled Brans chair to a stop and turned but Rickon was too slow to react and went crashing into her back making them sprawl out into a pile on the floor.

 

“Woah! Hey! Be careful! I don’t want my sister to haunt me because I let her kids kill each other in front of me!” a man yelled dropping his things to help Bran get back in his chair.

 

“Uncle Edmure! What are you doing here?” Arya exclaimed once she picked herself up and helped Rickon to his wobbly feet.

 

“What am I doing here?! Do you know how worried your Aunt Lysa was when she came home to find you guys missing? Then you today you pop up at my Uncles restaurant order your mother’s special dish and then disappear without even letting him see you… that’s really messed up kids… he’s old and you know how much he loves you three...and now i find you performing with the Nights Watch, did you really think no one would notice?” He said sternly, they suddenly felt like little children caught breaking something of value.

 

“Sorry” they grumbled in unison making him sigh deeply before giving them each a hug.

 

“It’s allright, you made me drop your food though. Uncle Brynden said you three were far too skinny” He muttered eyeing them as he picked up the bags from the floor.

 

“Lemon cakes?” Arya asked when she inspected the bag he handed her.

 

“And a few other things, I know Lysa’s habits aren’t the most …appealing” He said with a slanted smile.

 

“ Are you going to tell her where we are?” Bran asked cautiously. They watched their uncle peer at them for an agonizing minute.

 

“No, no I won’t … I saw your performance back there and it was good. No it was better than good it was superb. I’ll make sure my uncle doesn't say anything either but you three have to promise me that you’ll be careful! I’m not promising that she won’t find out in some way… the bloody show is being broadcast live…” he said with a smile.

 

“sheeee doesn’t own a televishion, she watchessss nature” Rickon slurred in angrily.

 

“Is he drunk?”

 

“No, we’re just … tired” Arya lied quickly but he still eyed them suspiciously.

 

He pulled out his wallet and handed her his business card. It had the shiny blackfish logo on it because he was being groomed to take over ownership of the restaurant.   

 

“Allright then get back to your bus, call me if you need anything or if you run into trouble ok? Promise?” He asked firmly. He gave them each a hug before heading back to his expensive car.

 

“Oh! And by the way! I’m finally getting married!” He yelled from the car window as he drove off leaving his kin standing there very confused.

 

“I thought that man would die a bachelor” Arya muttered as they finally made it back to their bus with renewed excitement for their bag of goodies.  

 

* * *

 

 

Arya's Dress

 

Brienne's Dress

 

Meera's Dress

 

Ygritte's Dress

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! these are the songs! 
> 
> Brotherhood without Banners: Stone Temple Pilots – Dead and Bloated  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdCEPhNBnrM
> 
> The Bastards: Arctic Monkeys - Dance Little Liar   
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgLqRvpygmk
> 
> The Wildlings: Garbage - #1 Crush   
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locBtYh90-0
> 
> Winterhell: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Is Is  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBbeqUpEGA


	4. Casterly Rock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long i had technical difficulties and half of the chapter was lost on my now dead computer but!! HUGE thanks to killed-for-url-tumblr.com for saving this chapter with your song suggestions! they inspired me when I was totally lost and I can only hope I did them justice!

**Arya**

 

"What happened?" Rickon asked as he and Arya popped their heads into the driving compartment and Bran held himself steady by holding onto the door frame.

"It's just traffic, The closer we get to Lannisport the worst it'll be ...don't worry though you don't have a performance until tomorrow" Osha responded tapping out her cigarette in the ashtray by the open window.

The freeway they were on was practically a parking lot.

"How long until we reach Casterly Rock?" Arya asked impatiently.

"At the rate were going now we'll be lucky to get there by nightfall, but it's worth the wait. The Lannisters are hosting us at their five star hotel for the next three days, don't get used to it though we will be staying in our fair share of shady inns throughout the tour"

"I thought we were staying on the bus the whole time" Rickon said in a cracking voice.

"Don't be crazy boy. We're going to be on the road enough as it is. Everyone needs to shower and rest at least once a week if they want us to arrive at The Wall in one piece" they were at a complete standstill now so Osha was able to face them.

"You said we're staying in Casterly Rock for three days, why?" Bran asked.

"Lannisport is really only a half hour drive from Casterly Rock so we're going to shuttle you over for the show and then come back and rest for a day before we head out for the long drive to High Garden." Osha said lighting another cigarette.

" what's there to do at Casterly rock for three days" Arya asked raising an eyebrow.

"there's plenty to do, they have pools, gardens, and even a Lion sanctuary over looking Sunset Sea. There's also a subway called the gold line that takes you straight to the city and back in about 45 minutes" she said as the bus in front Of them moved up a few feet before coming to stop again so Osha went back to driving and shooed them away.

" isn't she just a well of information" Arya grumbled as they collapsed back into their seats. Her brothers were able to busy themselves with their instruments but she just sat looking at the same mountains that didn't seem to be getting any closer.

_Tap_ ...

... _Tap_...

Suddenly a bright green jelly bean hit her nose.

"What the..." She muttered as she stood on her seat to look out the open top half of the window.

She told herself she wasn't disappointed not to see Gendry staring back at her.

"Hey" Meera yelled. She and Jojen were sticking their heads out of the bus next to them.

"Hey" she responded not knowing what else to say. "Can we come over to your bus? we're bored as shit over here" Meera yelled.

"Is that allowed?" Arya yelled back, by now Bran and Rickon were tuned in.

"Yeah.. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I dunno," she looked at Bran and Rickon who both knodded yes.

"Alright yeah come over" Arya yelled before climbing down and opening the door for them. Jojen took Arya's seat so she sat next to Meera on the sofa bench thing while the boys struck up a conversation.

"This traffic is madness" Meera commented.

"Yeah it sucks, have you ever been to Lannisport?" Arya asked

"Our parents took us on a vacation there when we were kids but that was it. what about you?" Meera asked pulling out the bag of offensive jelly beans from the little side bag she wore.

"No we've never been, but our driver Osha said we're going to stay at Casterly for three days" Arya said popping few candies in her mouth.

"Oh it's so much fun, we've never stayed at The Rock Hotel but in Lannisport there's a really cool beach and pier with a Ferris wheel. Our father took us on a tour of the old gold mine under Casterly Rock but we avoided the town itself, it's full of boogie rich folk"

"Our parents always said the city was dangerous, not as dangerous as kings landing but still" Arya said letting her eyes flicker to Bran and Rickon.

"Yeah I guess it's the same with every major city you know, there's always a shady character lurking around the corner" Meera said with a shrug.

The bus started moving again making Bran's wheel chair roll backwards slowly.

Jojen stood up in front of him and started unclasping his belt.

"What are you doing?" Bran asked frowning and allowing himself to slowly move away from him.

"I'm helping you" Jojen replied getting behind him and pushing his chair back towards the the fold out table.

"Meera come here and hold his legs steady" Jojen ordered crouching behind Bran's wheelchair. Meera knelt in front of Bran and held onto the metal handles of his chair smiling up at him making his eyes widen and his adam's apple bobble nervously.

Arya and Rickon exchanged a questioning look but Jojen popped up again smiling and fixing his sunglasses that had gone crooked.

"All done" he said cheerfully going back to his seat Meera did as well and Bran's chair was firmly secured to the table.

"Thanks" Bran mumbled after inspecting their handiwork.

" let's celebrate, Meera..." Jojen said holding his hand out to her. "

Are you sure? You know this is the last of it right? " she replied reaching into her bag.

"Yeah...screw it, why not" he replied.

"You were the one who wanted to smoke out with the lions"

"Damn it... You're right let's wait" Jojen said moodily. Meera rolled her eyes making her brown curls bounce around. Arya raised her eyebrows at his sudden change in demeanor.

"Jojen was feeling generous last night at the show when one of the other guys told him be had really bad motion sickness so he gave him most of his medicine, now we're going to have to find some in Lannisport or he's going be a moody and emo until we get to High Garden" Meera explained to them.

"What's in High Garden?" Bran asked curiously.

"We're performing at the Festival of Flowers this year just in time for the harvest" Meera said enthusiastically but they just stared at her blankly.

"You haven't heard of the Festival of Flowers? Its a big festival with live music, huge art instillations, living sculptures made out of different types of flowers and everyone dresses in crazy costumes and drinks... and there's drugs... Lots of drugs" Jojen exclaimed happily.

"Yeah... And Some people can't handle it" Meera added quickly.

"Ok yeah... There's a few...But that's if you fuck around with synthetics. I wouldn't mess with that stuff, all natural for me" Jojen said seriously.

" I wonder how they'll handle showing that live on tv" Arya muttered sarcastically. Word had spread around that the head of W.E.N didn't approve of the Harrenhal show.

"They'll make it look clean just to get the views of people who couldn't afford to go, I hear Margery Tyrell and Joff B are performing at the festival too. Khaleesi was just added not too long ago to the lineup" Meera said pulling out some licorice from her bag.

"Yeah that's why they can charge people a small fortune just to attend, all these big names that draw people in" Jojen added taking the candy from his sister and passing it out to Bran and Rickon.

"How do you guys know all of this?" Rickon asked .

"We got the internet on our phones, they keep sending us updates to the tour" Jojen said tapping on his pocket.

Jojen started showing Rickon something on his guitar and Meera engaged Bran conversation about drumming techniques. Arya looked out the window behind her to see that they were moving at a faster speed now and they were entering the winding road through the mountains.

 

**Gendry**

 

"Have you guys ever thought... That like ... There could be like .." Lommy started talking slowly and stopped but no one else responded.

"Like ... An alternate .. Universe?" He finally finished.

"Woah" Hot Pie said breathlessly before biting into a snack cake.

"That's ... Really... deep" Edric said staring at Lommy like he was otherworldly.

"Hey have you guys ever gotten that feeling like you're falling in you're sleep and you suddenly jerk yourself awake?" Gendry suddenly asked seriously.

"Yeah" Lommy muttered now they were all leaning in closer to hear him.

He was the only one who didn't partake but the bus was so filled with smoke that he could feel his head becoming hazy as well and it didn't stop him from wanting to mess with their heads

"They say that's what happens when another you ...dies" he said in a menacing whisper. Their eyes rounded with fear and he could almost see their gears churning as they tried to recall the number of times they felt that sensation.

"That just blew my mind" Edric whispered to himself and Gendry sat back and admired the silence he stunned his friends into.

Taking advantage of the silence , he took out his worn notebook and pen and started scribbling down the lyrics that were flowing through his head.

 

**Tyrion**

 

Casterly rock was finally in view and the moon was high when he got a phone call from his brother.

"Jamie!"

"You sound chipper for someone who has been stuck in a metal tube for the better part of an entire day."

"Not taking well to being out on the open road brother?"

"Let's just say I would have sawed off my right hand out if boredom if this wench wasn't here stop me"

"I suggest finding some activities to help the time pass by... Perhaps reading a book, or doing puzzles maybe even contemplating the meaning of life... That works well enough for me... You also have a beautiful woman at your side at all times, I wouldn't be so bored in your position"

"Gah this wench is too professional for anything really fun to happen, can't get anything more than touch and sometimes a kiss if she's feeling generous"

"Well you can't blame the woman, you do have quite a reputation with the models"

"She should know it's different...anyway I didn't call to talk about my lack of satisfaction, I called to tell you that the Casterly Rock show has been commandeered by your mother"

"And how is our mother planning to achieve such a feat?"

"She's turning it into one of her Lannister themed charity events, she thinks it will help since the show has been getting so much attention and the reputation of our family name has been tarnished by your nephew's recent excursions"

"He's your nephew not mine"

"No he's not, he's as much a part of you as he is me"

"Technically not since his mother is your twin, he's practically your son"

"Ugh don't be gross Tyrion"

"Haha anyway what exactly is mother going to do about the people who already paid to see the Nights Watch?"

"You already know it's mostly the snobby elitists who are too good to go to the Lannisport show, you know her inner social circuit"

"What about the musicians? I doubt they are going to be thrilled about being turned into performing monkeys for Lannister Inc."

"They were performing monkeys to begin with, besides they shouldn't mind all the perks that come along with having our company back them"

"Oh yes, I'm sure the cell phones you handed out will do wonders for their wounded pride"

"Hey those were the latest most advanced technology, they aren't even out for public sale yet! Fresh off the belt from our very own factory"

"Oh I see now, you're using this as a marketing ploy so the masses will be eagerly awaiting the release once they see their favorite new band using them"

"Exactly, you know the game better than I little brother"

"Father's idea I'm sure" "Aren't they all"

"We'll be arriving at the hotel soon have all the arrangements been made?"

"Yes Brienne made sure that everyone will be able to get their own rooms and room service, we've reserved the top floors for us though "

"Not eager to take Brienne to our childhood mansion?"

"Where our every move will be monitored no thank you"

"Can't blame you, anyway we are slowing down now, how about we meet in the morning for breakfast"

"I already promised mother you would join us"

"Hah I daresay she would give us a choice, have a goodnight Jamie"

"G'night Tyrion"

The buses all pulled up in from of the grand entrance to the hotel.

The tall structure looked like it had been carved from the mountain itself. Two large golden statues of lions stood proudly at the sides of the large glass doors and an overhang of crystal chandeliers lit up the entrance.

Once Tyrion stepped off his bus he could see the flood of musicians being directed inside by hotel workers.

Except for one.

He recognized the lead singer of the Bastards standing in front of one of the massive golden lions staring up at it in total amazement. His mouth was hanging open and his blue eyes couldn't get any bigger as he gazed at the golden creature.

Tyrion was suddenly struck by how much the kid resembled his sister's late husband.

"It's not made of real gold you know" he said walking over to the boy who turned to look around him a few times until he finally looked down.

"I know it's not made of real gold, it's got to be gilded" the boy said looking down.

"Then why are you staring at it like it's a world wonder" Tyrion was amused, bastards were among his unique interests.

"Look at the metal work and the details of the animal it looks so real and regal, it's the work of true artist and it's huge" the boy was looking up again in wonderment.

"You have a passion for this type of sculpture?"

"I have a passion for any type of creative outlet, when you grow up with nothing, you're mind becomes everything. It's amazing to see what people can manifest with their hands just from thoughts in their head" he said turning to face Tyrion fully and suddenly his eyes caught sight of a slight deformation in the boys ear that was highlighted by the bright moonlight.

"What happened to your ear?" Tyrion asked curiously making the boy instinctive touch his ear which looked like it had been sliced across the top.

"Oh that's always been like that, I think I must have been born that way " he said with a shrug.

"Oh... Ok well, you should get inside and rest, we've traveled a long way and you have a performance tomorrow" Tyrion said and he watched the boy look at him strangely and walk away toward the entrance.

It wasn't until the singer was fully inside that Tyrion reached up to his own ear and touched the deformity identical to the boy's, and the only flaw he shared with his perfect sister.

 

**Arya**

 

The nights watch tour took up two whole floors of the hotel.

Arya walked down the stone lined walls eyeing the golden details suspiciously. She hated the Lannisters and their ruthless lawyers who publicly shamed and humiliated her talented father years ago.

Everything about the castle themed hotel screamed Lannister and made her skin crawl, she came up to the wooden door that had a plaque displaying the same number written in the plastic key card some blond hotel worker had handed her.

The door handle beeped green and let her in.

The walls were stone, the ceiling was black with gold trim and the carpet was a plush dark red. She first noticed an old fashion wooden tub in the massive bathroom and as she walked further in she saw a massive king size bed with black bedding and blood red pillows. The bed frame looked like molded gold and there was a small golden chandelier above the bed lighting the room.

She tossed her backpack full of clothes on the desk by the window and turned on the flat screen tv on the wall across from the bed.

An image of a blond hotel receptionist woman appeared smiling.

"Welcome to The Rock hotel at Casterly Rock, we hope you enjoy your stay. The hotel has three indoor and two outdoor pools, as well as endless gardens overlooking the Sunset Sea. Visit our Lion sanctuary and see the magnificent animals in their own habitat. If you get hungry come down to the cafe or steakhouse or just order room service by dialing 0 on your room phone. Take the gold line into Lannisport for -" the woman's almost automated sounding voice was cut off by Arya quickly changing the channel .

There were only four other channels to choose from so she stopped on a channel that had breaking news in bold letters at the top and a tubby bald man staring into the camera.

"Varys here reporting grave news from Kings Landing, there has just been a five car pileup on the Roseroad heading into the city. Sources have confirmed that Joffrey Baratheon's custom vehicle, Widow's Wail, was involved but the self proclaimed king of pop made a quick getaway in a separate car that was following him before authorities arrived. Two people have been injured but there have been no confirmed deaths at this time and the cause of the accident is still under investigation, in other ne-" Arya clicked off the the television and walked over to her bag to look for her elusive phone.

'That stupid little bitch Joffrey, I always knew he was a terror... I can't believe Sansa fancied herself in love with him' she thought finally finding the thing. It was making a sad little beeping noise so she found the charger and plugged it into the wall. She fiddled around with it for a few minutes before it made a chiming noise and message window popped up.

From: the producers

To: the performers

We hope you have a relaxing evening but new developments have been made. The Casterly Rock show has been changed into a charity ball hosted by Joanna Lannister. You and your band mates will choose a charity organization to represent and there will be a challenge added to the show to showcase your talents. Every band who incorporates lions into their song will be rewarded with a cash prize by the Lannister's themselves. It's completely optional but encouraged since the encore will be chosen by Mrs. Lannister as well. Extra instruments will be provided for your use in Conference room three on the first floor. Have a good night.

Arya read the message a few times over before a knock at her door interrupted her. She opened it to reveal her brothers standing there.

"Hey you wanna come with us to go see the lions? Jojen and Meera are going to meet us down there too" Bran said with a nod.

"Yeah sure let me just grab my key" she said going to grab it from the table she tossed it on.

They went back down toward the lobby and summing pools where the signs with little lions were directing them to go.

The lion exhibit was beautiful with a glass walkway through the center of it. There were six lions total, two boys and four girls lounging around lazily. Jojen and Meera were already in the middle of the glass walkway pointing excitedly at a lioness sitting close to the glass.

They greeted them and sent Rickon to keep a lookout while Jojen lit up a thin long dark brown cigar. Arya watched them each take a couple puffs before Rickon came back and told them that some old people were coming. The elderly couple gave them looks of utter disapproval and disdain as they walked by.

"Bloody reefers" the old man said loudly after they passed them.

"I have a condition sir!" Jojen yelled as they were leaving but they weren't left alone for very long, soon they were joined by Gendry and Hot Pie.

"Look at them just sitting there" she heard Hot Pie say.

"Yeah I know it's fucked up...they're just looking at us like we're inferior beings..." Gendry grumbled before turning to look in her direction, he must have felt her staring at him. She hadn't realized that her brothers had left her alone again to find a better viewing spot.

"Hey" he called walking towards her with Hot Pie in tow.

"What are you doing here alone?" He asked when they reached her.

"I'm not, I came with my brothers but they've somehow escaped" she responded with a small smile walking to stand next to him and lean against the railings.

"Did you guys get the alert about the show tomorrow?" Gendry asked as they watched a big male lion with a dark brown mane move from one rock to another. 

"Yeah,I read about the challenge, we haven't really come up with anything yet. What about you? Have you decided to partake?" She asked when one of the younger lionesses jumped up on top of the clear walkway giving them a view of her belly and paws.

"We're doing it for the kids at the orphanage we came from in Flea Bottom" Hot Pie answered from the other side of Gendry who just nodded.

"That's nice, Rickon wants to represent the wild wolf conservation program in the north" she answered remembering her youngest brother's rant about the dwindling number of wolves on the elevator ride down.

They quietly watched the lions until Hot Pie complained of hunger and abandoned them for the promise of room service.

So they found themselves alone, in a den of lions.

Arya felt a flutter under her diaphragm and she cursed herself for feeling nervous around him.

"So ... Do you like the .. Hotel?"she said trying to break the silence so he wouldn't hear her heart beat.

"It's all right, a bit too glitzy for my taste, we didn't stay here last year" He answered still watching the lazy animals in front of them.

"Where did you stay last year?" She asked.

"A seedy motel in Lannisport, the show we did here, at the concert hall in the hotel but we weren't welcomed to roam around" he answered and silence fell over them again.

"It's kind of sad seeing them in there don't you think" she said after a few minutes of cricket sounds.

"What's sad about it ? They have ocean view property and I'm sure they eat better than half the people in Westeros" he said suspiciously eyeing the large animal widening it lethal jaws in yawn.

"They're not used to beach front properly they're used to having lots of lands to roam around and hunt on, not a shoe box by the water" she snapped really thinking of the wild wolves near Winterfell.

"I refuse the feel sorry for over fed lions who lounge in the sun all day"he scoffed.

" ok next time you're trapped in a confined space I'll make sure not to feel sorry for you either" she retorted launching a small argument between while the lions watched them with mild interest.

"Want to go for a walk?" He asked after silence settled over them again.

"Sure" she said glancing around for any sign of her brothers before they headed out.

They started to bicker again halfway through the gardens overlooking the midnight blue sea that was crashing against the rocky cliffs they were walking on, neither of them realizing the romantic scene surrounding them.

 

**Bran**

 

"Damn it Arya how bad can you be at this? Our dad was an amazing guitarist!" Rickon said pulling on his curly dark hair.

They were currently in conference room three trying to come up with a new song for tonight. Arya and Rickon both had acoustic guitars and he was drumming on a single drum in his lap.

The conference room was filled with various instruments for them to use at their disposal and only a few other bands had come down. They had been there for over six hours since they since they came down after eating breakfast.

"Get off my nuts I still have to sing you know!" She exclaimed trying to strum the tune again only to have her fingers slip again.

"It's only four chords!" Rickon yelled like a frustrated child.

"Hey! Give me a little credit ok I already have the lyrics written!"she yelled back equally as immature.

"Just relax you two, let's start from the beginning" Bran said neutrally.

They played halfway through until Arya's finger slipped and Rickon stood over her in a executioners stance ready to bash down his guitar over her head.

"Hey are you guys alright" Gendry shouted from across the room as he strolled over holding a banjo.

"Yeah we're fine" Arya growled out not looking at him.

"We're not fine, we have two hours to get this song down before we have to start getting ready" Rickon muttered angrily.

"You know what your problem is right?" Gendry asked fiddling with a string of his banjo. A snarl took over Arya's features as she stood up getting close to Gendry's face.

"What would that be?!" She snapped hostilely

"You need a smaller guitar ...cause you're little" Gendry replied mockingly patting her head.

'Does this guy have a death wish' Bran thought watching his sister turn red with anger. She was hungry and frustrated, he could tell she wanted to hit the blue eyed boy in front of her when she balled her fist.

But Gendry swiftly stepped away from her and wandered over to the line of acoustic guitars left out for them. He picked up a significantly smaller guitar and brought it over wearing an arrogant smirk. She just glared at him and took it watching him walk back to his band mates who were crowding around Edric sitting at a piano.

Needless to say the rest of their rehearsal went a lot smoother and his little brother no longer tried to murder their older sister.

 

**Arya**

 

Her fingertips were red and swollen when she finally found her designated changing room but she had a triumphant smile on her face, she had finally mastered those four little chords.

Ros already had Meera in her seat, working frantically to get her fizzy curls in check as the waif rushed around carrying various red and gold dresses. Ygritte waved a little sitting behind a table that had two little lamps on it and was half covered in nail polish bottles.

"Nice shirt" Ygritte said when she claimed the empty set next to her. Arya looked down at her thin old Mance Rayder shirt and smiled.

"Thanks I stole it from my big brother, but I'm a huge fan" she replied.

"I uses to listen to them all the time but I can't bring myself to anymore because it reminds me of my ex boyfriend too much" the red head confessed trailing off sadly. Arya panicked a little not knowing how to respond to her.

"What happened?" She finally asked giving in to her curiosity.

"He was bastard crow at Castle Black university, he said he made vow to not to engage in relationships while in school. I bought it too until I found him making out with my rival, that blond focking whore who thinks she's top shit because her sister was a groupie who fucked Mance Rayder regularly" Ygritte growled out, her cold blue eyes hardening with anger.

"That's horrible" was all Arya could say. 'what kind of bitch was this guy to leave someone as cool as Ygritte.' She thought furrowing her brow.

Just as she was about to ask for the guy's name so she could send Jon to kick his ass, two blonde girls rushed in carrying little bowls of liquid.

"Lady Joanna is coming! We just saw her down the hall" one of them exclaimed setting Ros and The waif into a frenzy to tidy up the room.

A few minutes later a golden blond haired elder woman walked in wearing a floor length red dress that had golden sparkles sprinkling down from her shoulders. She had a smile plastered on her smooth face completely free of any aging lines. Behind her trailed in Brienne wearing a short tight shiny red dress that had one black sleeve with gold designs on it and incredibly high shoes.

"Hello ladies, I've just come by to see if you have everything you need" Joanna Lannister said in a sweet voice sweeping through the room.

She raised a perfect gold brow at the sight of Meera's messy curls only half tamed and muttered something in Ros' ear. Brienne was still trailing behind her writing down notes. Then she walked over to the waif and spoke in Braavosi while glancing quickly at Ygritte. The waif nodded curtly and disappeared into the racks of clothes once again.

"Brienne, my dear please turn on the television it's far too quiet in here" Joanna ordered with a smile as she walked closer to Arya and Ygritte. Brienne did as she was asked and clicked on the large flat screen hanging on the wall on Arya's left hand side.

Arya hardly suppressed an eye roll when Joffereys ugly face filled the screen like it had done at the tavern in Harrenhal.

The two blonde girls looked ready to piss themselves when Joanna came and gave her a once over, briefly lingering on Arya's hands before muttering something to them. They nodded eagerly in response.

"Well I must go get ready myself, I'm excited to see the beautiful transformations you'll make before tonight" she said kindly and with that she left as quickly as she came.

"Did she just insult us?" Ygritte muttered but arya couldn't respond because her eyes were glued to the television. Joffereys ugly mug had been replaced by a far more familiar one as a loud piano melody filled the room.

 [play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXjISlKLuE)

"Oh this is Sansa's new song! I haven't heard it yet but I used to love her" one of the blondes said but arya couldn't take her eyes away from her sister. The video was shot simply in what looked like a studio and even though it was in black and white her features were indistinguishable

" _Once my lover...Now my friend...What a cruel thing ...To pretend...What a cunning way...To condescend...Once my lover and Now my friend_ " her voice was still powerful and low, it always suprised everyone since she looked so delicate. She was completely the opposite of arya.

"Did you hear what happened to her?" One of the blondes asked the other as she fiddled with Arya's fingers. There were different camera angles alternating from showing her long fingers playing piano, her singing face and the large back of a huge man with shaggy long hair.

_"Oh, you creep up...Like the clouds And you set my soul at ease...Then you let your love abound...And you bring me...To my knees_ " sansa was looking at the man watching her from behind a soundboard as she sang.

" _Oh, it's evil, babe...The way you let Your grace enrapture me...When will you know I'd be insane...To ever let that...Dirty game recapture me_ " Arya was impressed that her perfect and proper sister could sing angrily. 

"oh yeah! Someone released a tape of her and Jofferey having sex last year! I almost thought she would never show her face in public again" the other one replied causing Arya to break her gaze away to see if she was serious for a second before rerunning her eyes to the television.

" _You made me...A shadowboxer, baby...I wanna be ready...For what you do...I've been swinging All around me...'Cause I don't know When you're gonna...Make your move_ " No one told them that happened to Sansa, sure it didn't help that their aunt kept them away from everything in the media, but still she knew her step-uncle kept tabs on her sister. He was always popping up to show her photos of Sansa wearing revealing clothing and costumes, no doubt singing words she didn't write to music she didn't produce herself.

It was really creepy thinking about him discovering a sex tape of her sister.

"Did you know they dropped her from her label? They said she gave them a bad image" one of them said, Arya couldn't tell she was too absorbed in the image of what Sansa had become.

" _Oh, your gaze...Is dangerous...And you fill your...Space so sweet ...If I let you...Get too close...You'll set your Spell on me...So darlin'...I just wanna say...Just in case...I don't come through...I was on to every play...I just wanted you_ " sansa looked a little frail, he hair was left down without any intricate braids or clever designs she used to do, that and she hardly had make up on.

"You know who released the sex tape right? It was that maniac Joff B, I used to be her stylist while I was in Baelish Beauty Acedemy and she would tell me all the crazy things he would do to her in private, but of course he didn't get in trouble" Ros said loudly joining in on the conversation.

" _But, oh, it's so evil...My love...The way you've no...Reverence to my concern....So I'll be sure to...Stay wary of you, love...To save the pain of...Once my flame and...Twice my burn_ " arya was filled with a searing anger, but she kept a calm demeanor.

'If I ever see Joffrey in person again, I'm not going to hesitate to kill him this time' she thought briefly envisioning herself stabbing him in the throat with an ice pick or something as equally long and pointy.

"Well I heard she hooked up with Joff B's old producer and he helped her release this album herself" one of the blonds said still painting Arya's finger nails. Arya smiled slightly at the news, Sansa was far more talented than they ever would have allowed her to be.

The image of her sister faded from the screen leaving her with an aching heart, she wouldn't usually say she missed the redhead but deep down she knew did. Sighing heavily she looked down to inspect the blonde's handiwork. 

"What the fuck are you doing?!" She exclaimed when she saw the two inch shining metallic gold nails that were pointed at the tips protruding from her finger nails.

"Lady Joanna told us to use these, they're the latest from the Lannister Cosmetic Labs, the adhesive is strong and quick drying and the style is all the rave right now" the blond said inspecting them happily.

"I can't play the guitar with these things on my hands, I wasn't even that good before!" She exclaimed trying to remove them.

"Don't do that you'll hurt your real nails, don't worry about it they'll fall off in a day or two" the girl said, she obviously didn't understand the real issue at hand.

"Fuck! give me scissors!" She exclaimed. If she couldn't play then Rickon would have to play both parts.

"Oh please don't do that, they only last 24 hours really and if lady Joanna see's your ruined nails I'll never be able to get work again!" The blond girl pleaded

"Are you actually worried about that stupid challenge" Ygritte said inspecting her own long nails that were a deep shade of matte red. Arya gave up trying to take them off.

"You're not doing it?" Arya asked feeling the strange sensation in her fingertips.

"No fockin' way, I'm not letting them dictate what I sing about, they can take their cash prizes and shove them up they're arses, I'm a free focking woman" Ygritte said with angry confidence.

"Ygritte come here so I can start your hair!" Ros yelled over the dance music coming from the television as the waif dragged Meera off carrying a small pile of red fabrics.

"Well shit" Arya muttered staring at her glammed up hands.

 

**Gendry**

 

He was half naked when she barged into the men's changing room.

She looked beautiful in another short tight dress, but this one was red with gold details, puffy short sleeves and it flared out around her hips. He had to stop himself from laughing out loud she he saw her trying to walk steadily in the tall heels they strapped her in.

He watched her find her brothers and tell them something with animated anger, oblivious to the men staring at her from their own various states of undress.

She turned in his direction and his ego inflated when he watched her eyes widen and her red painted mouth drop open. He stared at her staring at him until one of the stylists noticed her presence and shooed her out of the room.

He felt himself smirk as she was being hustled out of the room narrowing her steel colored gaze at him.

Someone turned him around and they slipped a silk black shirt onto his arms. He fastened it and took a thick dark red velvet blazer with gold embroidering along the edge that was handed to him. Then someone else came and tied a dark grey scarf around his neck.

He wouldn't normally be caught dead dressed this fancy but they were dressing everybody in these rich fabrics so he couldn't really complain. It still didn't stop him from being uncomfortable. He stretched the jacket out a bit to get better arm movement before they shoved him over to the sitting area.

He made sure everyone was occupied before he slipped out. The hotel corridor was empty, the ballroom where the show was being held at was two floors below. He made his way to the elevator but no matter how many times he looked behind him he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed.

He ignored it and went on his way finding the ballroom with general ease.

The large ballroom looked like the giant gold lion from the front came and shit all over the place. Everything was draped in gold and scarlet, little tables with chairs, the television cameras, the bar and even the lion ice sculpted had gold dust all over it. There was a crowd of incredibly dressed rich people over by the bar and perfectly groomed waiters carrying around trays with one bite courses.

In the sea of blondes, her dark hair was a welcomed sight.

She was loitering in the corner by golden statue of a lion cub. He strolled up next to her but she was too engrossed with her dangerously long nails that she had used to spear some little crab balls with. She choked a little on her mouth full of food when she noticed him standing there.

"Well you clean up nicely" she said when she composed herself.

"Oh this old thing... What happened there?" He asked motioning to the golden spikes protruding from her fingertips making her roll her eyes.

"The latest from Lannister cosmetics" she said in a high mocking voice.

"How are you going to manage playing the guitar with those things on?" He asked catching himself stare at her hair that they had managed to turn into a long braid forming a crown around her head. Even her bangs were perfectly even and trimmed.

"I'm not, hah it would be disastrous so Rickon is going to play both guitar parts" she said before sliding another crab puff off her nail using her teeth.

"Then why do the challenge at all?" he asked cocking his head to the side.

"Because fuck them... that's why, it's a challenge and we don't back down from a challenge. Why are you doing it?" She said with a laugh.

"We heard the Lannisters are going to double down for the charity of the band'a choosing. I don't give two fucks about entertaining them I just want to make sure their money goes to the kids who really need it" he said eyeing the decadently dressed crowd being directed to the little tables.

"Damn I can't really make fun of you for that" she grumbled, but he couldn't respond because he got the feeling someone was watching them again. He looked around and only caught sight of a blond guy with pointy features turning his gaze away from him quickly.

"Hey you want to go get a drink?" He asked looking for an escape when he noticed Loras Tyrell setting himself up in front of a camera next to the stage area.

The stage area wasn't really a stage but just instruments and microphones set up in front of the large floor to ceiling windows that showed a view of the sea and the purple and blue clouds of the night sky.

They slowly, because she could hardly walk, made their way to the long tables at the back where a blond bartender handed them frosted little glasses with strawberry slush.

"Mmm this tastes so good" she muttered finishing her drink off in one gulp.

"How can you drink like that?" He found himself asking as she licked her lips.

"I have no gag reflex" She said innocently nearly making him drop his own drink. Before he could ask her how she discovered this little trait of hers the lights started to dim and a single spot light lit up on the curly haired host who was standing next to a tall elder blond woman in a dramatic floor length dark red dress with a high collar and huge sleeves. Her blond hair was piled on top of her head under a gold head piece.

"Welcome to another show of The Songs Of Battle!" Loras' voice was projected throughout the entire room making Gendry briefly wonder if his uncle was hanging around here somewhere.

"We are here at the Rock Hotel in Casterly Rock and I am joined by the lovely Joanna Lannister who has graciously taken this opportunity to turn this event into charity ball to raise money for various charities chosen by the bands themselves" he said with a bright smile before Joanna put a hand on his shoulder and grabbed the microphone out of his hands.

"And I would like to add that whatever bands earns the encore tonight will win an extra donation for the charity of their choice from me personally, it's always so great to give back and as Lannisters we always pay our debts and more" she said with confidence and grace before handing the microphone back to Loras who had almost lost his composure.

"Right and don't forget to vote for your favorite band online at the website on the bottom of the screen, so without further delay here are the Brotherhood without Banners!" He said enthusiastically but the audience gave a half hearted applause as the stage lit up to show the older men dressed and groomed better than he had ever seen.

 [play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IusEhJXlCOA)

Even Tom was up there tonight with his acoustic guitar looking sharp. He started strumming his guitar and stopping it with his hand after two chords making a beat. Anguay and thoros joined in with their electric guitars as did Harwin with his bass. Lem started banging on some bongo drums and the sound was truly incredible.

" _Dancing days are here again as the summer evenings grow ...I got my flower, I got my power, I got a woman who knows_." Beric started singing in a slightly high voice. Gendry looked at the girl next to him who seemed entranced by the music as she sipped on her refilled glass, smudging lipstick along the rim.

" _I said it's alright. You know it's alright - I guess it's all in my heart ... You'll be my only, my one and only. Is that the way it should start_?" She was swaying as much as she could while keeping her long legs steady.

" _Crazy ways are evident, In the way that you're wearing your clothes ... Sippin' booze is precedent as the evening starts to glow_."Anguay took the lead with a solo. 

"Why isn't anyone dancing?" She asked him while Baeric repeated the chorus. She was right, the crowd was barely moving except for a few people nodding their heads to the beat.

" _I told your  mamma I'd get you home... but you didn't say I had no car.... I saw a lion he was standing alone, with a tadpole in a jar_ "the band went into an instrumental.

"I dunno I guess it's not proper" he responded remembering last year when the audience mostly just stood there as well.She sneered at the audience in front of them and made it a point to dance more.

Gendry saw his brother and band mates walking into the room and waved them over to their spot near the bar.

" _Dancing days are here again as the summer evening grows ...You are my flower, you are my power ....You are my woman who knows._ " They finished playing and their small group cheered and clapped as loud as they could, drowning out the sound of the vague applause the crowd was giving.

The brotherhood left the stage and well dressed stage hands came to swap out the instruments and roll in the piano Edric was going to use.

He looked around him and noticed the pointy faced blond lingering a little too close again so he set his cup down on the table only to have Cat pick up and finish his drink. He licked his lips noticing she had strategically placed her mouth where his had been.

He couldn't dwell on it for very long because Lommy had grabbed his arm as they made their way to the stage.

 

**Arya**

 

She flagged down the bartender and had him refill her glass when Meera popped up next to her, getting one of her own.

"How do you always manage to escape first" she asked as they walked closer to the front.

"It's a gift" Arya replied with a smirk looking at Meera's 'transformation'. Her dress was sleeveless and made of shear red fabrics with yellow and black prints on it, it was floor length and her brown hair was left down in soft controlled waves.

"Wow this is ..." Meera trailed off looking around as she took a sip of her beverage.

"Alcoholic" she concluded looking at the red liquid in the glass.

Arya just shrugged and looked at the stage area where Gendry was tuning his banjo with Lommy an his acoustic. Edric sat behind a grand piano and Hot Pie was standing half behind an upright bass.

"They certainly went all out with the instruments." Arya muttered. After a few minutes the lights dimmed again and the spot light focused on Loras Tyrell who was now standing among the audience.

He introduced them and the stage lights slowly lit up.

 [play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh_bTkyJV5s)

Lommy started playing a moderate tempo, shortly after being joined by Edric and Hot Pie. Then Gendry started fiddling with his banjo and together they played a little faster. it all sounded incredible and folksy, it just made her want to kick off her shoes and dance around.

" _Weep for yourself, my man,...You'll never be what is in your heart... Weep, little lion man, You're not as brave as you were at the start.... Rate yourself and rake yourself Take all the courage you have left... And waste it on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head_ " he sang loudly and with true emotion and his eyes screwed shut.

" _But it was not your fault but mine...And it was your heart on the line....I really fucked it up this time ....Didn't I, my dear? ....Didn't I, my.._." He trailed off and let his fingers dance wildly on the neck of his banjo while the rest of them played faster to keep up.

" _Tremble for yourself, my man, You know that you have seen this all before....Tremble, little lion man, You'll never settle any of your scores ....Your grace is wasted in your face, Your boldness stands alone among the wreck....Now learn from your mother or else spend your days biting your own neck._.." Arya glanced around the crowd and simmered at their stillness when this soulful music was surrounding them.

" _But it was not your fault but mine... And it was your heart on the line... I really fucked it up this time... Didn't I, my dear_?"his eyes were open now and he was glaring at the crowd while he emphasized the curse word. He repeated the chorus before they set off on a long instrumental before using his voice like an extra instrument and harmonizing it at different octaves. Then they all stopped playing.

" _But it was not your fault but mine... And it was your heart on the line... I really fucked it up this time... Didn't I, my dear_?" They all sang in perfect unison before they drilled into their instruments again repeating the chorus one more time before ending.

"Bravo!" Joanna Lannister was the first one to yell before she stood up clapping and the rest of the audience followed suit. Gendry walked toward her undoing his scarf to wipe the sweat from his face.

'No fair he looks better the more he sweats and I always look like I dug myself out of my own grave after I'm done performing' she thought watching him drop the scarf to the floor before stealing her drink from her hand and finishing it.

"Shit I better pick that up before they try to charge me an arm and a leg for it" he muttered turning around to pick up the abandoned scarf.

They were all surprised to see a pointy faced blond guy already crouching on the floor about to put it into a clear plastic bag. He noticed them watching him and he turned bright red before scampering off.

"What was that about?" She asked Gendry who had now retrieved the scarf and shoved it into his back pocket.

"I have no idea, but I need some air .. And to get away from this stuffy atmosphere." He said unbuttoning his jacket.

"I'll come with you, you wanna come?" She said turning to Meera who raised an eyebrow.

"No I'm going to wait here for Jojen, you kids go have fun" she said smiling with a wink.

Arya just rolled here eyes and let Gendry lead her away.

 

 

**Jon**

 

"Welcome back to The Songs of Battle, up next are The Wildlings!"

'Finally' he thought. He had already sat through 8 other bands and while normally he would relish in that kind of entertainment , he only had two performances he wanted to see.

He knew he wasting time that should have been spent writing the 30 page research paper that was only halfway done but as soon as the camera showed Ygritte all other worries flew out of his mind. She wore a puffy and eccentric dark red gown that had small black birds printed on it in a circular pattern. Her beautiful fiery red hear was swept to one side leaving her long creamy neck and naked shoulder visible.

 [play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rczm3S5ogWc)

The camera panned out and he finally had a chance to look at the other band mates and he wasn't surprised to see Styr, Orell and Rattleshirt behind her playing the music to accompany her voice.

" _Hanging by threads of palest silver....I could have stayed that way forever ....Bad blood and ghosts wrapped tight around me ... Nothing could ever seem to touch me .._." She sang slowly but hung in her every word trying to find out what it meant.

" _I lose what I love most ...Did you know I was lost until you found me? .._." He felt the familiar guilt start gnawing at his core.

" _A stroke of luck or a gift from God? ...The hand of fate or devil's claws? ...From below or saints above? ... You came to me_ " she was so beautiful and poetic while he always struggled to find the words to convey his true feelings.

" _Here comes the cold again ...I feel it closing in ...It's falling down and ...All around me falling_ " she trailed off and let the music play for a bit still glaring into the camera with her cold blue eyes.

" _You say that you'll be there to catch me ...Or will you only try to trap me These are the rules I make ...Our chains were meant to break ... You'll never change m_ e " he never wanted to change her, he just wanted to help her. She was perfect to him as long as she was alive.

" _Here comes the cold again ...I feel it closing in ...You're falling down and All around me falling...Stroke of luck or a gift from God? ...Hand of fate or devil's claws? ....From below or saints above? ...You come to me now_ " he always battled with himself wondering if he truly helped her or sent her further over the edge.

" _Don't ask me why ...Don't even tr_ y " she sang in a high pitched sweet voice before returning to her normal octave.

" _Here comes the cold again ..I feel it closing in ...It's falling down and ...All around me falling_ " he could feel the tears stinging his eyes. She trailed off singing falling over and over before the screen blinked and a commercial replaced it.

He sniffed a little and turned to see Gilly and Sam staring at him sympathetically while Gilly balanced a laptop on top of her round belly.

"What are you doing?" He asked her hoarsely.

"I'm voting for Ygritte of course" she said simply. He fished out his cell phone from his pocket and scrolled through his contacts and finding his target and letting it ring against his ear.

"Hey Jon! How's the cold life at Castle Black?"

"It's kicking my ass even more than you ever did Robb. Where are you?"

"Haha I'm at a new gentleman's club that just opened up near the film school, why?"

"So you're at a strip club?"

"Yeah but with gourmet food and far more beautiful dancers... There's a girl dressed as a nurse who keeps eyeing me"

"That's great does this strip club have a tv by any chance"

"Yeah they do why?"

"Are you eating? Put it on to channel six and hurry" the host was introducing Winterhell now.

"Yeah I am.... Ok"

"stop chewing in my ear, is it on?"

"yeah... wait ..Is that?... Cough cough cough"

"Yeah it's them right!!? It has to be Arya, Bran and Rickon. The drummer is in a wheel chair there's no doubt right? You have to call your aunt and see what happened!"

"Wow you're right it is them"

"Theon? Where's Robb"

"He's a little preoccupied, he's choking or something but don't worry there's a sexy nurse sticking her fingers down his throat.. It's actually pretty hilarious"

"Well don't just fucking stand there laughing! Do something!"

"She's looks like she's got it.. Oh! But your right! I should film this! Gotta go"

"Damn it, that didn't go as planned"

 

Gendry

 

[play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMMkP_ofpXg)

She was drunk enough not to notice the pain that her shoes caused her from standing in them all night when Bran started playing the drums. Rickon was standing there holding an acoustic guitar to his chest while an electric one hung low around his hips and Cat was already contorting her body along with the drum beat before she opened her mouth to sing.

" _Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is_ " she sang articulately while looking out of the corner of her eyes avoiding the camera. "Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is" she was still covering her upper body along with the music.

" _Take our hands out of control,... Take our hands out of control_ " she sang as she slowly moved sideways. Rickon took his acoustic guitar and smashed it into the ground quickly with one hand while his other started plucking his electric guitar before heavily laying into it.

" _Now, tell me what you saw!... Tell me what you saw!...There was a crowd of seeds,...Inside, outside,....I must have done a dozen each_ "she grabbed her microphone with both hands and kicked away the broken splinters of wood toward the startled audience.

" _It was the height I threw, ...the weight, The shell was crushing you, ...I've been around a few...Tell me what you saw!,...I'll tell you what to._.." She threw hear head back exposing her long neck .

" _Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh...Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh_ " she was almost howling like a wolf but still singing. She looked mystical with the moon shining high behind her.

" _Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is_ ,"she sang slowly again as Rickon had grabbed another acoustic guitar from somewhere and was strumming away again, once in a while plucking a single string on the electric one and letting ring out.

" _Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is,....Take our hands out of control,...Take our hands out of control.._."she took Rickon's second acoustic guitar from him letting him play a high pitched solo on his Fender. With a smile she brought it down like her brother had done earlier just as her brother started playing heavily.

" _Outside, Inside,....This is the moon without a tide,...We'll build a fire in your eyes,...We'll build a fire when the cover's getting brighter,....Cold desire makes the moon without a tide_ "she was singing violently into the camera now and Rickon picked up a third acoustic guitar from behind a large speaker and started strumming again.

" _Tell me what you saw! 'll tell you what to... Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh....Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh.._." She was picking up broken guitar pieces and re smashing them as she vocalized her lyrical howls. Then her voice trailed off and the music stopped.

There was complete silence as if the crowd was in shock and all of a sudden she started laughing uncontrollably into her microphone and pointing at their faces before leaving the stage with her brothers just as they were getting their meager applause. She walked toward him still managing to look very well put together since her shoes stopped her from dancing around as she would normally.

Joanna Lannister went to the stage but not before some stage hands came to sweep away the shattered guitars.

"That was absolutely incredible! A big round of applause for all of our entertainers tonight!" She said into a microphone allowing the audience to clap.

"Now there are little cards in the center of your tables with band names and their chosen charities, please mark your favorite act and how much you would like to donate and don't forget to sign your name. Now as was promised earlier I will pick my favorite for the encore and I would love to see more from The Bastards" as soon as she said it his head snapped up to see most of the musicians and audience staring at him and his band mates.

' of course the people I can't stand are the ones who love us' he thought bitterly but still glad to have won some extra funds for the kids at the orphanage. Good thing they were prepared. He shot Cat a smile briefly noticing the pointy faced blond that had been shadowing him all night lurking around the statue they were stationed by.

He grabbed the banjo and stood in front of Lommy sideways to the camera and audience as they waited to for Hot Pie to tune his upright bass. Edric settled in behind the piano and he was happy that his half brother would be able to show off his piano training he had as a child.

 [play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LBx2YjDtYg)

Loras introduced them again and Lommy joined him as they played the same melody. He broke off and they walked to the microphone with Lommy still playing on his own.

" _Touch my mouth and hold my tongue...I'll never be your chosen one....I'll be home safe and tucked away....Well You can't tempt me if I don't see the day_ "he sang along with lommys melody staring up at the spotlight.

" _The pull on my flesh was just too strong....Stifled the choice and the air in my lungs....Better not to breathe than to breathe a lie...'Cause when I opened my body I breathe in a lie_ " the words flowed out of his mouth like honey for something he had written just the day before. They all joined in with their instruments.

_"I will not speak of your sin....There was a way out for Him....The mirror shows not...Your values are all shot_ " Edric and Lommy sang along with him while hot pie kept up with the same simple bass tune before they all slowed their tempo.

" _But oh my heart, was flawed I knew my weakness....So hold my hand consign me not to darkness..._ "he sang out alone clenching his eyes shut as he prepared himself to shout.

" _So crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down....I'll never wear your broken crown!....I took the road and I fucked it all away....Now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace_ " he let his inner fury take over his voice as did Edric and Lommy nearly shouting into the microphones as they all played at an increasingly fast tempo.

" _So crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down...I'll never wear your broken crown!....I took the road and I fucked it all away....Now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace_!" They shouted with even more emotion than before as they continued to play hard and fast throwing everything they had into it. They continued with their instrumental with great concentration as their heads hung low and focused on their sound.

Then they slowed once again to a halt as he calmed his voice while his heart thudded in his chest.

" _So crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down...I'll never wear your broken crown...I can take the road and I can fuck it all away....But in this twilight, our choices seal our fate_ " he sang slowly and clear so they could all understand letting his voice ring out at the end.

There was deafening applause mostly from their fellow musicians who had all grown annoyed with the stuffy audience through out the night. He made his way over to the bar and asked for water before cat made her way over to him. Everyone was making their way to exit for the night.

"Congratulations, you managed to say fuck almost ten times on live tv in one night" she said slightly slurring. He smirked and gulped down his water before catching a glimpse of his stalker blatantly watching them out of the corner of his eye a few feet away.

"Why is that guy staring at you?" She asked following his line of sight.

"I don't know I think he's been following me all night" he replied loudly knowing he must be able to hear them.

"He looks like an elf, someone needs to get him some pointy shoes and striped tights" she observed just as loudly. He definitely heard them he was turning bright red.

"He looks like a little cunt to me, what the fuck does he want" he said watching the blond's eyes widen, he fully turned to them and stalked up to him before snatching his now empty glass from his hands and rushing away.

"What exactly was that?" She asked him.

"How the hells should I know, this place is so fucking weird" They retreated as fast as they could back to their changing rooms.

* * *

 

Arya's Dress by ALexander McQueen

 

Brienne's Dress by Alexander McQueen

Gendry's Outfit ( Lets just say all the men were wearing Dolce and Gabbana's Fall 2012 menswear collection) {in order, Edric, Gendry, Lommy}

 

Joanna's Outfits by Alexander McQueen

 

Meera's Dress by Alexander McQueen

Ygritte's Dress( ignore the hair and makeup if you can) by Alexander McQueen

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! here are the songs in order, 
> 
> Sansa's Song: Fiona Apple- Shadowboxer  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXjISlKLuE
> 
> Brotherhood without Banners: Led Zeppelin-Dancing Days (However I based the performance on STP's cover of it)  
> OG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PecsnHR365I  
> Cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IusEhJXlCOA
> 
> The Bastards: Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh_bTkyJV5s
> 
> The Wildlings: Garbage- Stroke of Luck  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rczm3S5ogWc
> 
> Winterhell: Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Gold Lion  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMMkP_ofpXg
> 
> Encore: The Bastards: Mumford and Sons- Broken Crown( I mean I knew about Mumford and Sons but i didn't KNOW about Mumford and Sons until I heard this song, Love it)  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LBx2YjDtYg
> 
> please tell me what you think! are the references getting to be too much? or are they helpful?


	5. Lannisport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy fuck i finally finished this chapter. I am so sorry for the long wait, do you know that feeling of being so excited about writing a certain chapter until you sit down to write it and it suddenly doesn't want to formulate in your head... yeah that's what happened to me but here you go... three months and 10,000 words later :) Disclaimer: I don't own characters, world or songs or lyrics.

**Jon**

 

Ghost ran ahead of him leaving deep paw prints on the thick snow.

 

His blood was rushing through his veins, fueled by Mance Rayder's guitar solo that was blasting in his ears when Castle Black came into view. His music and mid-morning run were quickly interrupted by a phone call.

 

He slowed down and bent over catching his breath as he checked his phone to see Robb's cheesy smile staring back at him.

 

"Hello" he answered panting heavily.

 

“ are you in the middle of fucking someone?"

 

"No! I was in the middle of a run" “

 

Haha so much for being hopeful, it's about time you indulged yourself in the wonder that is a woman's vag-"

 

"I've already done that thanks, how's your throat?"

 

"Wet dreams don't count brother, my throat is fine in fact it's better than fine, after Talisa dislodged the jumbo shrimp from my windpipe I took her home and laid her dow-"

 

"Wait hold on… why we're you eating seafood at a strip club in the first place"

 

"I was hungry and it was gourmet...Anyway that's not why I called you, I finally got a hold of my Aunt Lysa"

 

"And ? What happened?" Jon saw ghost running back toward him before he disappeared behind some piney trees.

 

"They ran away, yeah apparently she has no idea where they ran off to but she suspects they're with Sansa in Kings Landing or headed up your way... But if that really was them with the Nights Watch tour then I suppose it's both or neither"

 

"How did they even manage that, Bran can't walk let alone run and they aren’t even old enough"

 

"Petyr had taken Lysa and Robyn to his new beauty school opening in Lannisport and that's when they bolted, they even stole a handicap van and some of Uncle Jon’s old instruments and equipment"

 

"Well that's it then that confirms that it's definitely them… of course it was most likely Ayra's idea"

 

"Oh no question, but I doubt she had to do much convincing. Remember when Sansa and I used to spend spring break in the Vale while you got to go north of the Wall with Uncle Benjen, you lucky bastard. After a week we were ready to break out and escape, I can't imagine being stuck there for years. I'm actually surprised it took then this long"

 

"Well you have to hand it to them they are pretty good."

 

"I wouldn't know I missed the performance, I think the shock of seeing them on TV dressed in Lannister colors fucked my mind up and I forgot how to swallow"

 

"They should be airing a new show tonight"

 

"Can't watch tonight I have a DJ gig"

 

"You're DJ-ing now? What happened to your film career"

 

"It's part of it, hey I just thought of something… isn't dad's friend Yoren the Manager of the Nights watch tour or something"

 

"Yeah I think so... He's Uncle Benjen's friend too, I'll see if I can get his phone number. It would explain how they got in."

 

"Yeah we should try to get in touch to make sure they're safe at least...well I gotta go, I’m going to film Theon jumping out of the Purple Harbor dressed as a giant squid to scare people. Let me know if you can get ahold of them, bye Jon "

 

“bye Robb" Jon hung up his phone when he heard the loud roar or a truck plowing through the snow toward him.

 

His blood has slowed back to normal and the cold was starting to bite through his thick black fur lined jacket. The truck honked tauntingly, he could see Grenn driving and Pip waving out the window as they passed him by with Ghost lounging in the back with the firewood.

 

"Fuck it" he muttered before chasing after them to where they slowed to a stop before climbing in the back to curl up with Ghost all the way to castle black.

 

**Sansa**

 

"Can you sign here please?" A young handsome delivery boy asked nervously.

 

She could tell from the way his eyes trailed down her body followed by a distinct blush and immediate readjustment of his belt that he had watched her sex tape at least once. Possibly more. She was so used to it by now she identified it immediately.

 

Sansa quickly signed the electronic pad horribly as usual and took the thin package from his slightly trembling hand before slamming the studio door in his face.

 

"What's that?" Sandor asked gruffly as he emerged from the sound booth carrying colorful wires.

 

"I don't know it just arrived from my Aunt Lysa in the Vale. Maybe it's some photos of my little brothers and sister" she said tearing open the package with her teeth. Out fell a black almost brick like box that she recognized from her childhood as a tape. With it fell out a small slip of paper.

 

"I haven't seen one of these in years why in the seven hells would she send you an old VHS tape?" Sandor asked picking one up to investigate it.

 

"Well according to her note my ungrateful sister led my brothers on an escape… and she found this in the basement where they spent most of their time…. She sent it to me because has no use for my dead uncle's junk or anything to do with those runaway rats... As she so eloquently put it…she also seems to think they came here…" Sansa replied as her blue eyes skimmed over the letter; her perfectly shaped auburn eyebrows rising slightly.

 

"She sounds like a cunt" he growled flipping open the top tab to blow air into it. Sansa smirked, nodding her head ever so slightly as she folded the note and took the tape from his hands.

 

"Do you have something we could watch it on? It might be an old video of my mother" She asked staring up at him with silent excitement glittering in her eyes.

 

“I should have one in a closet at home; we might as well go find it I doubt you’ll do much else before you see what’s on the damn thing” Sandor said with a shrug before he caught her when she launched herself at him for a tight hug even wrapping her legs around his waist as she peppered his scarred face with kisses which he gladly returned. They weren’t in that much of a rush after all.

 

**Arya**

 

"Welcome to our new and improved RV bus with wheelchair accessibility" Osha said proudly standing in front of the massive double decker bus.

 

"Wow... They really went all out for us huh…" Arya mumbled as the three of them gawked at the massive vehicle in front of them There was a lift for Bran's wheelchair and small bedroom with attached bathroom in the back for him. In the middle of the bus was still a sitting area and kitchenette and instead of a driving compartment, two plush chairs faced the windshield.

 

"There's more beds up here… another bathroom too!" Rickon called out excitedly from the top level.

 

"All of your stuff has already been moved over" Osha said smiling at their childlike exploration.

 

"This is really nice, but who paid for all of this?" Arya asked wiping her hand across the smooth granite counter top.

 

"The Lannisters I guess, they're paying for everything" Osha replied lighting up a cigarette.

 

"That sounds a little too good to be true ..." Arya muttered remembering her father's complaints about record and production companies trapping talent in complicated contracts that held them accountable for any debts they accumulated while under contract. 

 

"Well come on then with all the traffic it will take us at least an hour and a half to get into the city around this time" Osha ordered as she took her cushioned seat behind the wheel.

 

Bran was lifted in on a mechanical lift and was able to lock his wheel chair into place before they started driving out in the long line of busses.  

 

Arya tapped her long golden nails against the window glass as they slowly drove past the huge beautiful mansions built into the uneven mountain side. Sometimes the road was right on the edge of a cliff where it dropped off into dark aqua whirlpools.

 

It was a such a clear contrast to the industrialized city they drove into.

 

The looming sky scraper that shot into the cloudy blue sky belonging to Lannister Incorporated was the focal point with gleaming golden windows surrounded by smaller and less majestic buildings. The streets were congested with fancy sports cars and dirty cars that were older than her.

  

Tall skinny palm trees lined all the streets, people walked around in business suits or high fashioned clothing. As they approached the beach the people seemed to wear a lot less clothing, half of the men were shirtless and the girls were either in bathing suit tops and shorts or sun dresses.

 

A Ferris wheel was at the end of a long pier close to where the large metal stage was being set up facing the water. The shore line was flat and she could spot the white foam of waves rolling in.

 

"Well we made good time, you'll have about an hour to explore before your changing area tents will be ready, but don't wander too far, there's a beer garden down that way and the path to the pier is over there" Osha explained as they parked in a sandy lot designated for their tour busses.

 

"I want to go see the water" Arya announced looking through the window of the bus.

 

"We already promised Jojen and Meera we would hang out at the pier with them" Bran said typing furiously on his phone before unlocking his wheel chair from the safety mechanism.

 

"Yeah I wanna go on the Ferris wheel and eat fried ice cream" Rickon said excitedly.

 

"Does fried ice cream really fit into your cruelty free diet?" Arya teased

 

"There's nothing cruel about ice cream" Rickon replied seriously.

 

"Well you guys can go I'll find you later on" Arya said getting off the bus first and heading across the long expanse of beige sand that slipped into the holes in her shoes.

 

The sun was making the sand sparkle like glitter as she trekked closer to the shore.

 

There were half naked people all around her and she felt out of place in Bran's old super hero t-shirt and tight jeans.

 

She could feel sand creeping in through the holes in her shoes but she didn't mind, not when she was staring into the white and green sea foam crashing against the shore.

 

Ever since the accident large bodies of water ignited a certain fear but at the same time she could never bring herself to stop staring at the vast expanse of blue water merging with the lighter blue sky.

 

It made her feel very small.

 

Like she felt in the river.

 

She collected a few sea shells and slightly waved at a couple with their massive golden retriever, who sniffed her curiously as they jogged by.

 

She could see some surfers bobbing about further out across the shimmering water and a warm breeze filled her nose with the salty smell of the ocean that she could almost feel on her skin.

 

Everything had been happening so quickly it was nice to take a moment to stand still and just breathe.

 

After half an hour of roaming she was about to turn toward the direction of the pier she noticed a tall blond muscular figure walking out of the water.

 

"Brienne?" She called out when she recognized the large woman in a full body wet suit holding a huge dark blue surf board. It was a bit strange to see her without her hair, makeup and stylish clothes.

 

She looked like a regular person...  a very tall regular person.

 

"Hello Arya" she called in response causing Arya to lose her footing and stumble into the sand.

 

"Hey… How Do you know my name?!" Arya asked looking around to make sure no one heard. Brienne just offered her a reassuring smile and helped her to her feet.

 

"I was a huge fan of your mother's music, I actually did biographical project on her while I was in school because she was such a prominent female figure in the classical music world. I learned all about her family, her music and her work. She was nice enough to even give me a personal interview which helped me pass the class I almost failed due to...Personal problems" Brienne explained wiping water droplets off her face.

 

"Oh ...ok that doesn't really explain how you recognized me though" Arya said narrowing her eyes suspiciously. Brienne blushed and offered a crooked smile.

 

"Well to be honest after I heard about Catelyn's accident, I’m so sorry by the way, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to her children. She made it very clear that you all came first before anything else in her world; she spent almost an hour showing me pictures of all of you before one of her concertos. And then I recognized you and your brothers when we watched the footage from the Harrenhal Show, I helped to convince Jaime to come help his brother. Your mother made me promise to help any female entering this business no matter who she was. So many young girls are taken advantage of because of the false promises of power and fame.” She explained as they started walking away from the water together.

 

"That sounds like my mom. My mother hated the Lannisters though... hey.. You're not going to tell anyone about us right?" Arya demanded.

 

"I know she hated them…lots of people hate them. Don’t worry I promise not to reveal your identities but really if there's anything I can do for you don't hesitate to ask" Brienne said with a big crooked smile.

 

"Can you get me a meeting with the CEO?" Arya asked as they neared the stage area.

 

"Why do you want to meet with Tywin Lannister?" Brienne asked with only a hint of alarm in her voice.

 

"Can you do it or not?" Arya asked calmly avoiding her question.

 

"I'll see what I can do" Brienne replied with a sigh when they noticed the freckled guy who was constantly snapping photos of everyone running toward them only to trip and land head first in the sand at their feet.

 

He raised one hand in triumph still clutching his camera surprisingly unscathed as he pulled himself from the floor.

 

Brienne rolled her eyes and Arya started snickering.

 

"What is it Podrick?" Brienne asked smacking sand off his shoulder.

 

"Uhhh Jaime and Tyrion sent me to find you, they are having a disagreement about doing a fireworks display to end the show tonight... Also they were being challenged for a drinking game by The Stone Crows... And I'm pretty sure they accepted" Podrick said quickly in one breath.

 

"tell them I'll be right there I just need to change, Listen I'll see what I can do for you too, so keep your phone on" the tall blonde said to her before rushing off toward the stone showers by the restrooms.

 

Podrick snapped a photo of Arya giving him a blank stare.

 

"Why are you always taking our pictures?" Arya asked crossing her arms and glaring at him.

 

"Oh it's for the online tour diary; Tyrion thought it would help connect you to the audience." He said raising his eyebrows.

 

Arya was silent as she scrutinized him trying to decipher if he was telling the truth. He looked around nervously.

 

"Umm I spotted your boyfriend at the beer gardens over there" he said awkwardly pointing to a grassy area.

 

"What boyfriend? I haven't got a boyfriend ... Wait ...What have you heard?" She asked, narrowing her eyes causing Podrick to visibly panic.

 

" I'm sorry, I just... I always see you with the singer for The Bastards and I just assumed" he said widening his eyes.

 

"oh..Gendry? He's my friend" she stated simply.

 

"Right sorry... I uh .. I gotta go" Podrick said before snapping another picture of her and rushing off.

 

Arya rolled her eyes and continued walking down the path toward the changing tents.

 

 

**Gendry**

 

"I'm going to fuck her sweetly for hours until she can't dance properly for a week"

 

"Cheers to that" Gendry said clinking his beer bottle against the bottle of the dark skinned singer of Unsullied.

 

"I love Missandei so much, I can't believe I haven't seen her in three months" Grey worm said after he took a long drink.

 

Grey Worm had been for pouring his heart out about this girl for like 40 minutes to Gendry as they hung around the beer garden with the other bands.

 

"So she's a backup dancer for Khaleesi?" Gendry asked.

 

"Yeah we met through Danaerys, I was a lead guitarist for Dany's backup band too but she gave me the push to go out and do my own thing. Missandei convinced me that I was too talented to be lost in the background. They were on an Essos tour but they’re back now" grey worm said pulling out a small square picture of a dark skinned girl with a poof of light brown curls.

 

"She looks like a nice girl" Gendry agreed politely making grey worm nod in agreement.

 

"What about you? Do you have someone waiting for you at home or so you prefer road head from the groupies?" He asked raising his dark eyebrow suggestively.

 

A flash of thundercloud grey eyes invaded his vision.

 

"No there no one waiting for me, some girls …catch my eye but I don't know ... Women and love tend to confuse me" he answered jokingly.

 

"It'll happen for you, you know it'll happen when you can't stop thinking about her, looking or touching her or acting like a fucking idiot all the time just to see her smile" he said staring lovingly at the little picture in his hand.

 

“What if I just like irritating her for no reason” he asked half joking and half serious.

 

Gendry stared at the bottle in his hands and absorbed the information just fed to him. He never acted like that over anyone, with the exception of a rude little pixie that constantly occupied his thoughts and most recently his dreams.

 

Before he could delve further into these notions a couple came and asked if they could get a photo with the two singers and effectively distracting him from dangerous thoughts.

 

**Sansa**

 

It took nearly half an hour for Sandor to locate his dusty VHS player in the mound of equipment he had stuffed into his storage closet.

 

It took even longer for him to properly wire it into the entertainment system.

 

Sansa watched him curse and grumble until he finally plopped down on the sofa next to her and clicked on the television to show a bright blue screen.

 

She dangled her bare legs over his lap and snuggled into his side while he fiddled with the remote. Suddenly the screen went snowy for a second before Ayra's young face appeared.

 

It had to be just after the accident since she still had bandages on her face and her hair was barely growing into a pixie cut.

 

"You're brother?" Sandor mumbled.

 

"No my sister" she corrected making him snort in disbelief but her eyes stayed glued to the screen.

 

[Play Audiotrack One](http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/K+O+At+Home/3105038)

 

Arya stepped back and sat on a stool across from little Rickon who was holding an acoustic guitar that was far too big for him.

 

" _What in ....what out ....what in… what out .....Caught on northern sky_." Arya suddenly sang slightly off tune but loud enough to understand.

 

Rickon joined her as he strummed a simple chord along with her voice as she repeated the verse over and over for 30 seconds until the screen went black.

 

There was a strange image of an older man playing the accordion that they had taped over. She quickly had Sandor fast forward through until Arya and Rickon appeared on the screen again.

 

Arya's hair was a little longer now creeping down around her ears and forehead. Her bandages were gone but her gray eyes were big empty pools of sadness. She was vocalizing along with Rickon's acoustic tune and lightly tapping a tambourine against her knee. 

 

Rickon looked a little bigger and his longer fingers danced along the fret clumsily but still better than most 8 year olds. The concentration etched into his features looked foreign on his young face.

 

Bran still wasn't there, Sansa knew why.

 

[play audiotrack three](http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/K+O+At+Home/3105038)

 

" _Child beside me_ " Arya sang loudly in a somber tone with her eyes tightly shut.

 

Rickon plucked a similar tune I'm reply.

 

" _You're the dirt in my water...you're the dirt in my hair...you're the dirt in my glare..."_ it was strange to hear her rowdy boyish little sister singing so sweetly. Even when they had singing lessons as children, Madame Mordane would always scold Arya for being off key while comparing the differences in their voices.

 

" _And lady beside me... Waiting beside me... We're nowhere near ... We're nowhere near"_ Sansa felt four years of guilt crash into her chest when she heard the heartbreak and longing in her voice.

 

" _and child ...oh child .... Chiiild, we're nowhere near_ " Her voice rang out sadly as Rickon played along.

 

Suddenly the television clicked off and she tuned to see Sandor’s arm stretched out before he gently wiped the tears that were streaming down her face.

 

“Hush little bird, there’s nothing to cry about.” He said gently but she couldn’t reply, she just kept crying as he enveloped her into him.

 

“I left them there… I never even …tried to get them out …I was so caught up in trying to gain fame….and… and fortune and the love of the stupid public… I didn’t even … I can’t” she sobbed angrily , the words muffled by his now damp shirt. 

 

“There was nothing you could have done for them, you needed to survive yourself and so did they, but now they’re out too and you can make it up to them when they show up here. For now I think we should save the rest of the video for later” he said letting the words rumble in his chest and soothe her like he had every other time she was attacked by her fears and emotions.

  

**Arya**

 

“No. fucking. Way.” She said deadpanned and staring at the five inch stiletto boots that the waif had shoved in her hands.

 

The waif huffed and took them back before muttering a string of harsh sounding braavosi words and disappearing into the rack of clothes.

 

“Hey! I’m pretty sure I understood that” Arya called after her before inspecting herself in the floor length mirror in front of her.   

 

She tugged on the short sleeves of her leather jacket that had little black leather wings sticking up from her shoulder blades. The sheer white blouse underneath was extremely soft and see through like one leg of her black leather leggings.

 

Ros had skipped giving her extensions today and just made her short hair stick up in every direction with some sort of wax and lots of hair spray. Her eye shadow was heavier than she had ever worn it and Ros had thickened her eyebrows into a dramatic shape with makeup.

 

The waif came back and shoved some thick leather ankle boots with a much shorter and thicker heel in her hands before disappearing again.

 

Arya managed to slip them on before her left breast started vibrating incessantly.   

 

She pulled out her phone from the hidden inside pocket of her jacket and saw an unfamiliar number on the screen.

 

“Hello..?” she answered cautiously.

 

“Arya?” a familiar male voice called out in question.

 

“Jon?”

 

“Glad to know you haven’t forgotten my voice little sister” arya rolled her eyes but couldn’t keep the smile from creeping along her face.

 

“How did you even get this number?” she asked as she slipped out of the changing tent.

 

“Yoren… why didn’t you guys tell me you were leaving the Vale to join the Nights Watch?”

 

“well it wasn’t guaranteed, we had to uh .. convince Yoren to let us join despite our ages”

 

"yeah.. I bet…anyway I saw your performances, you're amazing" Arya smiled so wide she was sure he could see it through the phone.

 

"You watched us? Bran and Rickon are brilliant aren't they" she said proudly as she slipped by the workers who were carrying various lights and heavy equipment.

 

"You're all amazing, are they treating you well? Anyone giving you problems?"

 

"Nothing we can't handle, how's the waaaaalllll?" She said drawing the word out dramatically like a ghost until she spotted the guarded entrance to the beer garden.

 

"It's cold ... Listen can you do me a favor? Like a real favor…"

 

"Sure, what do you need?" She said holding her chin up high and walking passed the buff blond security guards who only gave her a small nod of acknowledgment.

 

"Do you know the lead singer of the Wildlings?"

 

"Ygritte? Yeah she is really cool, I like her a lot... Why do you have a crush?" Arya taunted as she scanned the crowd of picnic tables under a grove of palm trees that had twinkle lights wrapped around them.

 

"More than that... She's my ...uh ex ..girlfriend..."

 

"Really? Wow ... I'm impressed, she is way out of your league ... I say that with love mind you... So what happened did she break up with you or something?" she asked awkwardly when spotted an angry looking Brienne in a secluded corner with Tyrion and Jamie Lannister who were each gorging themselves on what looked like burritos.

 

"Not exactly... It's really complicated but I had to break up with her, anyway that's not important.."

 

"Wait ... Are you the guy who broke up with her and then hooked up with some other girl right after?!"

 

"Oh she told you about that?"

 

"You're the guy who's death we've been plotting?! How could you do that to her?"

 

"Like I said ...really complicated, but that's not why I told you. Can you just ..keep an eye on her, make sure she's acting normal and not nodding off randomly or anything like that"

 

"Um yeah I can do that... I guess, is she sick or something?"

 

"Promise not to tell?"

 

"Promise" she answered rolling her eyes.

 

"Well she had a history before we met with milk of the poppy and after... All that happened she had a relapse .. I just still love her ..very much and I don't want her to overdose again. She is supposed to be in rehab right now "

 

"Wow that's intense"

 

"Yeah so just keep an eye on her"

 

"I'm watching her right now I think she's playing a drinking game with Shagga from the stone crows... Correction she's winning a drinking game against Shagga" she almost laughed when the huge muscular wild haired singer of the stone crows slumped head first into the table as Ygritte slammed down her empty glass mug triumphantly making sure to clean her chin before beer could drip onto her plaid red dress.

 

"That's ok she can handle her liquor better than anyone, alcohol gets stronger the more north you go"

 

"Yeah she looks pretty stable are sure she has a problem ?" Arya said watching Ygritte punch the drummer from the Faceless Men who tried to grab her for a kiss.

 

"I know she can take care of herself but just look out for her... For me please?"

 

"Yeah I can do that"

 

"Listen Ayra I have to go now, call me if you need anything."

 

"I will, Bye Jon" her long nails clinked against the phone glass when she hung up the call.

 

She quickly saved the number as a favorite in her contacts before she felt a large presence looming next to her.

 

Gendry was standing there looking unbelievably attractive.

 

How did he manage to make a white shirt and black tie with a leather jacket look like pure sex?

 

“well fuck me gently with a war hammer” she muttered unknowingly aloud.

 

“What?!” He quickly asked moving his face closer than ever before.

 

“What” she asked in return giving him her best bewildered expression she could muster in his close proximity.

 

“ I heard you.. say… never mind… “He trailed off looking confused. Arya almost gave in to the sigh of relief that was begging to escape.

 

Gendry cleared his throat and nodded his head toward Ygritte’s table where they were clearing off her belligerent opponent.

 

“Serves him right, he’s been challenging and beating people all day trying to sabotage the other bands. Edric and Lommy are still trying to sober up” 

 

“Well it looks like Ygritte got one over on him”

 

“Yeah I guess, but it was going to happen eventually. The man practically had an entire barrel before she got to him.”

 

“ are you saying she couldn’t beat him if he were sober from the start? Why don't you go try it” she asked hardly masking the annoyance in her voice.

 

“I can’t do that she’s a woman, a small thin woman mind you whose already been drinking. I’m not saying it a bad thing.. it’s just .. you know ..biology”

 

“she’s tall to me …I dare you, go over there and challenge Ygritte”

 

“everyone is tall to you, you’re a shrimp. You can’t dare me what are we 5?”

 

“It’s ok to be nervous, you’re about to be out drunk by a woman, HEY YGRITTE I HAVE A CHALLENGER FOR YOU” ayra yelled getting the attention of nearly the entire beer garden.

 

"What?" Gendry asked dumbfounded before Arya shoved him onto the bench in front of Ygritte.

 

Gendry glanced at Arya who was standing right behind him.

 

"Close enough view for you?" He grumbled.

 

"Oh I wouldn't want to miss a second of this" she responded with a cheeky smile.

 

Ygriite looked at him with an icy glare while a group of over flowing mugs was placed in front of each of them.

 

"Alright you southern lass lets do this" Ygritte growled out tauntingly causing Gendry to make a disgruntled face in her direction as he gripped the first mug in his fist.

 

It was a massacre.

 

Ygritte was able to guzzle down the beer at a quick and almost impossible rate and soon she finished her cluster of mugs while Gendry was struggling to keep up with her pace.

 

Eventually he let out a loud belch after he finished off the last of his share.

 

"Did ... Did youcheat?" He slurred pointing an accusing finger at the redhead.

 

"Fock off , this prissy beer is like water compared to what I'm used to" Ygritte said before getting up from the table with ease.

 

"I gotta pee!" He announced as he tried to stand up, nearly falling backwards into Arya as he did.

 

"Alright then come on" she said placing a steadying hand on his arm to guide him.

It took a long while for him to get out of the restroom she could hear him cursing his belt and pants button.

 

He finally stumbled out looking more disheveled than before with his tie was askew and his belt completely unbuckled.

 

“Took you long enough, it’s dark already “she commented loudly. 

 

Gendry continued to fiddle with his belt, ignoring her, until his hands dropped to his side and he looked up to give her an accusing stare.

 

Arya smirked and stepped closer to him with her hands reaching for the loose straps of leather around his waist.

 

She stared up into his dark blue eyes clouded with drunkenness, briefly flickering to his mouth to see his tongue wetting his lips as her hands worked to clasp his belt buckle. 

 

Then Arya felt something solid and warm graze against her knuckles.

 

‘is that… oh fuck …’ she thought frantically trying to decipher if he felt what she thought she did but he made no motion of acknowledgement.

 

She felt an incredible urge to explore further but a few loud stage hands turned the corner and broke her train of thought.

“Let’s keep drinking” he suddenly muttered in her ear before draping his arm across her shoulders, pulling her close and leaning on her at the same time.

 

“Yeah let’s drink some water” she retorted trying to keep them both from crashing into the bushes that would have been a lot easier if the boots she wore didn’t have heels.

 

Gendry just laughed loudly as he steered them toward the long table that looked like an alcoholics dream come true.

 

He then proceeded to pick up little cups of fruity cranberry and vodka mixes and hold them to her mouth to drink then to his lips to finish the drink off. 

 

This caused Arya to drink the drinks as fast as possible trying to leave small sips for him.

 

“You remind me of someone” he slurred curiously after silently staring at her for a few minutes.

 

“who would that be?” she asked feeling the warm fuzziness of the vodka invading her senses. His face was so close their noses were practically touching and she could feel the warm puffs of his cranberry vodka flavored breath on her lips.  

 

“GENDRY!” someone shouted from the beer garden entrance and the warmth of his arm dropped from her shoulders as Hot Pie rushed toward them.

 

She refused to admit to herself that she kinda missed it.

 

Then she noticed that he had bent the leather wings on her jacket, so she punched his arm.

 

**Bran**

 

He took a long drag, letting the sweet taste fill his mouth and enter his lungs then coughing up a cloud of smoke.  

 

Jojen started chucking loudly before taking his special skinny cigar back to take a hit before passing it to Meera.

 

He watched her cheeks sink in as she inhaled deeply through her painted cherry lips. Her hazel eyes flickered to his and she smirked playfully.

 

The cool breeze from the ocean wafted the smoke around her and up passed them from where they were hiding between the stage and the barrier to the beach.

 

They passed it around six more times before Jojen stomped it out with the bottom of his shoe.

 

“Let’s go get some drinks, the shows about to start” Jojen offered leading them back towards the waiting area.

 

Meera Followed Jojen and Bran followed Meera giving him a perfect view of her skin tight black hot pants underneath a very see through shimmery gray and white skirt.

 

He was so preoccupied with the sight he didn’t realize she had stopped moving.

 

He rolled face first into her ass.

 

Luckily he caught her before she could lose her balance on her high heeled boots and fall onto the ground.

 

OF course this meant she fell into his lap.

 

“Woah slow down there wolfy” Meera said sounding very amused.

 

Then her Hazel eyes widened like saucers and her mouth fell open as a glowing blush started to dust her cheeks. 

 

“Are you ... vibrating?” She asked hesitantly.

 

He looked down at his lap quickly unable to ignore her long creamy thighs clearly visible through the sheer fabric.

 

“Oh that… it’s um….” He said digging his hand into his pocket, Meera got up quickly to give him better access.

 

“It’s just my phone, I don’t know why I keep it on vibrate I can’t even feel it” he joked before sliding his finger across the screen to answer the unknown number. 

 

“Hello?”

 

“Bran?”

 

“Uh yeah… who is this?”

 

“It’s Robb! Your eldest brother, or have you forgotten me already now that you’re a rock star”

 

“Robb! Is that really you?! Of course I haven’t forgotten about you, and I’m not a rock star. How is Braavos? How did you even get this number?” He couldn’t stop the questions from rattling off his tongue. Meera came behind him to start pushing his chair towards where Jojen had left to.

 

“Jon got it from Yoren. So you ran off with The Nights Watch, huh. I always knew you wanted to go to the wall I just never thought you would take this route.” Bran smiled remembering their plan to go together before everything went to hell.

 

“Yeah well, we were planning on leaving the Vale anyway, then I remembered that Dad helped produce the first Tour so the it was just a matter of convincing Yoren to let us join, that took all of twenty minutes” Bran explained, he could hear the humming buzz of the audience the closer they got.

 

“Well that doesn’t change the fact that you are all still underage, and the fact that you three have been sheltered for years means that you’ll probably want to go haywire…. Don’t go haywire. Make sure you keep Arya and Rickon in line. I’m counting on you to be in charge Bran” Everything suddenly looked almost like Claymation to Bran, his legs, his wheelchair, the metal support beams surrounding him.

 

He could definitely feel it.

 

It felt amazing.

 

Meera must have felt it too because she started giggling behind him.

 

“Bran ? Can you hear me” Bran looked down at the strange number on his phone screen.

 

“Robb? Is that really you? This is am-azing” Bran chuckled out as they finally entered the waiting area. He spotted his sister sitting on a bench next The Bastards who were each chewing on what looks like mini loaves of bread.

 

“yeah.. Bran? Are you alright? Where is Arya?” Bran watched Gendry bite his bread into the shape of what looked like a dog. He heard Loras Tyrell’s voice introducing the first band and a wave of cheers followed.

 

“is that a wolf?” he wondered out loud completely ignoring Robb when Gendry started shoving it into Arya’s confused face.

 

“What?! What’s going on over there?” it was getting really hard to hear Robb now that the heavy guitar started playing.

 

“hah she bit its head off…and now he’s finishing it … and oh yeah … ok they’re making out now...”Bran narrated calmly.

 

“Who’s making out?” Robb sounded frustrated but Bran was too preoccupied trying to decipher if he was hallucinating or not to care.

 

“Arya and the Bastard”

 

**Gendry**

 

It all happened so fast.

 

One minute Hot pie had handed him some bread, so naturally he bit it into the shape of a wolf.

 

Then of course he had to use it to annoy the girl pressed into his side, because that was fun.

 

Then something happened and her lips were suddenly pressed against his.

 

And he was perfectly fine with that until someone jerked him away and shoved a water bottle in his mouth.

 

“Come on Gendry we have to get on stage now” Hot Pie told him, he looked back in his drunken haze still feeling the tingles all over his lips to see her watching, her eyes so dark they looked almost black and her lips were bruised red.

 

He suddenly felt too hot so he ripped off his leather jacket and loosened the tie around his neck. 

 

A stage hand came over with his guitar and slipped it over his head before they were shoved out into the blinding spotlights.

 

He had to turn away and caught sight of Lommy and Edric stumbling to their places. Lommy had his mop of blond girls covering his eyes as he stared down at his guitar and Edric’s bloodshot blue eyes were focused on fidgeting with the nobs on the small synthesizer in front of him, his bass guitar strapped to him and hanging behind his back.

 

Hot Pie was the only one looking sober and worried but once he caught Gendry’s attention he motioned for the singer to turn back around.   

 

Gendry’s eyes adjusted to the lights he peered out into the crowd that looked like it stretched out into the ocean behind them.

 

He glanced up and saw the violet and indigo clouds swirling in from the direction of the sea hiding the moon behind them.

 

He didn’t even realize that Loras had come out to the corner of the stage looking down into the mobile camera and introducing them.

 

[press play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rq0Ag15sAI)

 

Once Hot Pie started the song soon joined by Edric’s high pitched melody on the synthesizer and Lommy’s guitar, Gendry stumbled around in a circle for a few seconds before he found his spot in front of the microphone.

 

He let the harmony drag him back to the scenes in his mind that inspired this particular song before his queue to start singing came.

 

“ _Fiendish wonder in a carnival's wake….dull caresses once again irritate….Tread softly stranger….Move over toward the danger that you seek…_ ” He closed his eyes and saw the girl again, older and dressed in an elaborate costume with her face hidden behind a decorated mask. He could see her clear as day hiding poisoned darts in the puffy sleeves of her dress.

 

“ _You think excitement has receded then the mirror distracts….The logic of the trends quickly reaches and grasps….Handsome and faceless…And weightless your imagination runs_ ” Gendry looked out into the crowd again; he could hear himself drawing out the lyrics singing slower than he usually does but by the movement of the audience he didn’t think they minded.

 

“ _And now it's no one's fault but yours….At the foot of the house of cards…You thought you'd never get obsessed…You thought the wolves would be impressed_ ” He didn’t know why he felt like the girl came from a family of wolves or why the black and white door of some sort of temple he dreamt of her staring up at reminded him of a deck of cards and a cult all at the same time.

 

“ _And you're a sinking stone…But you know what it's like to hold the jeweller's hands…That precession of pioneers…_ ” the rest of the band haulted to a silence.

 

“ _all drown..._ ” In his mind’s eye he could see people willingly walking into the sea with squids stitched or etched into their olden looking clothing.

 

Gendry stepped away from the microphone and his hands started playing the tune on his guitar automatically before he swayed back to the microphone.

 

“ _In the moonlight they're more thrilling…Those things that he knows…As he leads you through the grinning, bubble blowers in the snow…..Watching his exit is like falling off the ferry in the night_ ” The jealousy he felt for a dangerous man whose face he couldn’t recall crept into his voice giving it a biting edge. Hot Pie and Lommy slowly joined in again.

 

“ _The inevitables gather to push you around…Any old voice makes such a punishing sound….He became laughter's assassin….Shortly after he showed you what it was_ ” Edric started playing the synth again with one hand while his other plucked the same melody on his bass. It was good to know that they could handle their alcohol and still perform, the one trait from their father they could thank him for.

 

“ _And now it's no one's fault but yours…At the foot of the house of cards…You thought you'd never get obsessed…You thought the wolves would be impressed_ ” He was singing faster now as he glanced to the side of the stage to see Cat watching him with unreadable expression.

 

“ _And you're a sinking stone….But you know what it's like to hold the jeweler's hands….That precession of pioneers…_ ” the music came to a halt again but he prepared himself for what was to come.

 

“ _All drown…_ ”he drawled out as Hot pie started drumming really fast before they all exploded into a quick and heavy tempo.

 

The crowd reacted with cheers and rapid dancing along with their thick melody, the energy almost felt electric.

 

“ _if you've a lesson to teach me….I'm listening, ready to learn….There's no one here to police me…I'm sinking in until you return_ ” He sang loud and rapid pushing the image of the cheeky little girl making him feel stupid out of his mind.

 

“ _If you've a lesson to teach me….Don't deviate, don't be afraid….Without the last corner piece I can't calibrate…Let's get it engraved_ ” The lights were dancing around them brightly, changing colors with the rhythm.

 

He repeated the chorus while dancing along moving away from the microphone to give his voice a falling effect, as the song came to an end he walked to the edge of the stage where the only a few feet of space and a security guard separated him from the audience.

 

Without a second thought he turned around and jumped into the crowd, luckily he was caught by a blanket of hands and cheers as he was slowly moved away from the stage.

 

**Arya**

 

Even in her drunken state she still managed to worry when she saw Gendry fall back into the crowd. She watched hundreds of hands carry him away pulling at his clothes and caressing every part of his body they could reach.

 

She turned away heading into the back stage area, finding Bran with Meera sitting on his lap rubbing her ankles under her high heeled boots and Rickon smoking a cigarette in the corner while nursing a bottle of beer.

 

She sauntered over and snatched the bottle and cigarette from his hands before stomping it out on the floor and finishing off the bottle. She completely ignored his protests.

 

She desperately needed to numb the pins and needles that had been plaguing her lips since Gendry stole her first kiss. She also needed to numb to intense urge to do it again, because she was almost certain that he was blacked out drunk.

 

If Theon was any example of what a blacked out drunk will do, she knew the kiss probably meant nothing to him while to her every emotion and hormone exploded in her heart.

 

At some point Rickon walked away leaving her lost in her thoughts for an unknown amount of time, not even registering the number of bands that had gone on stage to play until Ygritte came to stand next to her and snapped her glittery fingers in her face.

 

“You all right?” the red head asked when she finally looked up.

 

 Arya felt very conflicted, knowing what she knew now. Her favorite brother was the one to break Ygritte’s heart and now she was tasked with watching her to make sure she wasn’t shooting up.

 

Instinctively she looked at Ygritte’s bare inner arm and felt relieved when saw no suspicious marks.

 

“Yeah I’m all right, just really …drunk” she replied trying to act casual.

 

“Well snap out of it, I’m going out there next then it’s your turn” Ygritte said with a crooked smile as she tugged on her short red plaid dress and walked toward the stage joining her band mates who were already set up.

 

Arya followed her, stopping just at the side line.

 

[press play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obQvIxr6R5Y)

 

Loras came off stage after his introduction to stand next to her as the Wildlings started playing. She watched him silently pull out a compact mirror and adjust his curls.

 

“ _Love can be so strange….Don't it amaze you?....Everytime you give yourself away…It comes back to haunt you…Love's an elusive charm and it can be painful….To understand this crazy world….But you're not gonna crack…No you're never gonna crack…_ ” Arya listened attentively wondering if Ygritte’s lyrics were about Jon.

 

“ _Run my baby run my baby run…Run from the noise of the street and the loaded gun…Too late for solutions to solve in the setting sun…So run my baby run my baby run_ ” Arya admired Ygritte’s ability to perform in those incredibly high shoes when she took the microphone off the stand and started walking around making the camera man mimic her motions. 

 

“ _Life can be so cruel…Don't it astound you?...So when nothing seems too certain or safe…Let it burn through you…You can keep it pure on the inside…And you know what you believe to be right…So you're not gonna crack…No you're never gonna crack_ ” the audience was reacting to Ygritte’s strong performance, arya could hear the cheers of the female audience piecing through the music but she sang so loud it hardly made a difference.

 

“ _Run my baby run my baby run…Run from the noise of the street and the loaded gun…Too late for solutions to solve in the setting sun…So run my baby run my baby run_ ” She definitely seemed very steady now it was hard for Arya to picture her spiraling out of control and over dosing on Milk of the poppy.

 

Arya knew better though, she remembered after her parents died, Theon had lost himself in that too. It took Robb moving him to Braavos to get him to stop before he killed himself.

 

“ _Find out who you are before you regret it….Because life is so short, there's no time to waste it_ ” Arya hoped Jon was watching Ygritte, she was powerful and commanding on stage.

 

 Arya could feel a coil of nervousness start to fill her belly at the thought of following Ygritte’s act, but she couldn’t dwell on it when Bran rolled up next to her with Rickon as they all waited for the Wildlings to finish their set.

 

“Have you picked a song yet?” Bran asked her when Ygritte and her band started coming back stage.

 

“No, no, no” Arya replied before following Loras out.

 

 She waited patiently for the stage hands to switch out the microphone, looking out into the vast sea of people subconsciously looking for the one that was swept away. Bran rolled behind his drum set and Rickon took the end of her microphone to plug it onto a small foot pedal in front of him.

 

She turned her back to the audience looking up at the brightly lit outline of the city behind them while Loras introduced them.

 

[press play](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwR4KsOdR7Q)

 

Bran started drumming quickly for a few seconds.

 

“Sorry “ he yelled quickly after messing up before starting again as if they were rehearsing instead of performing in front of a huge crowd.

 

Arya started laughing lightly slightly shaking her head while Rickon started playing along with Bran’s quick beat. She started swaying and bobbing her head as they played a long intro before she turned around and took the microphone off is stand and brought it to her mouth.

 

 “ _Well I'm frozen…_ ” she started singing in a sweet voice standing still as Bran and Rickon came to a pause.

 

“ _like a soldier…_ ” they started playing again when she sang soldier in different octaves and started swaying again.

 

“ _Don't know where it stays all over the place…Time froze…_.” They stopped playing again and she froze in her place as well.

 

“ _Like an ocean…Don't know the taste of a never ending hate_ ” They played again and her voice deepened as she drawled out the word hate and bent over, unable to forget the hateful rage that burned inside her soul.

 

“ _No No… No… No_!” She sang out, growling into silence before Rickon’s harsh guitar and Bran’s heavy drums broke in.

 

“ _I'll hurry when I'm home….I'll hurry when I'm home I'll go….No No No No….I'll hurry when I'm home…I'll hurry when I'm home I'll go….Oh, I'll go_ ” Rickon and Bran took over playing in harsh harmony. She started dancing around the stage again and looked out into the moving crowd without the lights blinding her eyes.

 

And then she saw him.

 

She faltered a bit but caught her breath while Rickon played up his guitar.

 

Gendry was standing on a raised platform with some security guards and what looked like to women on either side of him. 

 

“ _Hey_ ” she snarled turning away back into the blinding lights when she one of them kiss his neck. Bran and Rickon slowed back into their original rhythm as she tried to quell the burning rage that had suddenly built up. 

 

“ _It's really not bad not worse than you thought….He'll never come back he's the man you dropped…He'll never come back as the man you loved…_ ” she screwed her eyes shut trying to calm her voice down while Rickon pressed on his foot pad to distort her voice slightly.

 

“ _It's not that bad not worse than you thought….He'll always come back he's the man you dropped…He'll never come back as the man you loved…._ ” Her voice rang out and she kept her eyes closed, she remembered writing this song when Petyr came back into her Aunt Lysa’s life. She told Arya their story as if it was something to be proud of, then she told her the story of how Jon was conceived while her father was on tour and her mother was at home caring for Robb as a baby.

 

“ _I told her….I told her….I told her I'll go……I told her ….I told her…..I told her….NO No No No NO_!”Arya  sang forcefully nearly panting in rage as she remembered the conversation, Aunt Lysa was trying to defend the fact that Petyr regularly slept with whores, by citing Catelyn’s forgiveness of her father for having a baby on tour.     

 

During Rickon’s harsh breakdown she looked back into the crowd glaring in Gendry’s direction; she could still see his outline.

 

“ _HEY_!” she yelled whipping the chord to her microphone and turning away to collect herself again while her brothers played.

 

She sang the chorus again pouring her emotions into every word, as she stumbled around the stage trying to think through her adrenaline enhanced drunkenness that must have fueled the audience to react by breaking out into a mosh.

 

Suddenly Rickon went to his microphone and shushed as he and Bran slowed to calmer tempo.

 

Arya was still stumbling around the stage muttering the lyrics as Rickon continued to garble her words and played up the effects on his guitar while Bran played a semi solo.

 

Arya threw her microphone to the ground and walked off stage first, not stopping to hear who won the encore and going straight to their bus where she found Osha waiting for them.

 

“How did it go?” Osha asked putting out her cigarettes.

 

“it went… ok” Arya muttered still trying to sort through the thoughts storming in her mind.

 

On the way back to the Casterly Rock Hotel she felt her phone vibrate from inside her jacket. It was a text from Brienne.

 

I got you an appointment at 8 am don’t sleep in!

**Gendry**

 

_Knock knock knock_

Gendry woke up with a start at what seemed like banging on his door. He looked around and found that he was fully clothed in his hotel room even wearing his shoes.

The last thing he could remember of the night before was going to the bathroom, after that everything got really foggy.

 

The knocking persisted so he dragged himself from his bed and staggered towards the door.

 

“What?” He asked grouchily as he swung open the door to reveal a stout blond man with pale skin and green eyes.

 

“Ah good you’re already dressed, I am Kevan Lannister, here take this and come with me. We are already late” the man said handing Gendry a paper cup full of dark coffee before walking down the hall.

 

“Wait… Hold on a minute!” he called out before rushing back inside to relieve himself in the bathroom and grab his room key and phone. He glanced at his reflection and saw his disheveled black hair and dark circles under his eyes.

     

He came back out to see the man waiting by the elevator with a stern look on his face. He followed him down to the front lobby where a sleek black car was waiting for them.

 

“Where are we going?” Gendry asked when a driver came around to open the back door for him.

 

“to the city” Kevan answered before sitting in the back himself. Gendry sipped on his lukewarm coffee and slumped into the backseat next to him.

 

The car drove them straight to the heart of Lannisport, the golden skyscraper of Lannister Incorporated.

 

Gendry followed Kevan as he led him through the lobby and straight to a golden bank of elevators that took them to the top floor.

 

There was a single dark red door at the end of a long hallway, Kevan motioned for Gendry to follow him again and stepped out of the elevator.

 

When they were about halfway down the hall the scarlet door opened. Out slipped a very familiar figure.

 

Cat had a smug look on her face as she held her nose high and walked out of the office holding a manila folder.

 

Gendry felt himself smile widely like an idiot at the sight of her despite the haze of confusion invading his mind. She was dressed in her simple black hoodie and tight jeans looking completely out of place in the extravagant office building just like he did.

 

She noticed him walking towards her and her smug smirk faded into a glare in his direction. She kept walking toward him with her eyebrows furrowed together in anger.

 

She looked particularly adorable like that but her behavior had him concerned.

 

“Whats wrong?” he asked grabbing her arm when she was about to pass him and pulling her closer.

 

“Nothing” she snarled before yanking her arm away and continuing her path down the hall, leaving Gendry watching her utterly confused.

 

Kevan cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at him before opening the red door for Gendry to enter.

 

He had to suppress a gasp of awe when he entered the massive room. The view of the entire city and glimmering Sunset sea filled his vision.

 

It was at the corner of the building and two walls made of glass windows funneled him toward the large antique desk with a large imposing leather chair turned away from him.

 

He glanced behind him to see Kevan closing the door without entering and trapping him in this vast office.

 

Gendry walked toward the two small chairs positioned in front of the desk but he pause when he heard muffled sounds as he walked closer.

 

The sounds turned into laughter and the chair swirled to reveal the usually stern face of Tywin Lannister, a face he had only seen before in Finance magazines and television, crinkled with mirth.

 

“It’s good to know there are still little girls who are too smart for their own good” he drawled out in his baritone voice chuckling just a bit.   

 

Gendry sat down in silence wondering what he could have done to land himself in front of Tywin Lannister.

 

“Gendry, do you know why I’ve summoned you here?” Tywin asked suddenly looking like his stern self again.

 

“Is it because I said fuck on live television multiple times the other night?” Gendry said offering his best guess.

 

“No, though it did cost us quite a fee, we took care of that” Tywin replied with a small smile before he pushed a small button on a small device on his desk.

 

“Genna, send Lancel in” He said loudly before staring at Gendry in a very analytic way.

 

“Gendry, do you know what a Legacy is?” Tywin asked still peering at him.

 

“Um.. isn’t that what.. people leave behind after they die?” Gendry answered still feeling very bewildered.

 

“Let me show you something” Tywin said reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a newspaper.

 

“Open it to page three” Tywin said handing it to Gendry. He did as he was told and found a large picture of a completely smashed and totaled expensive car.

 

“That was a birthday gift I gave to my grandson on his name day, it is the most expensive custom made vehicle that money can buy and you know what he did with it? He crashed it after two months. That was the second one I got him, He drove the first one into a lake” Tywin explained.

 

“Ok… what exactly does this have to do with me?”  Gendry asked, he was far too hung over to try and figure it out on his own. Tywin stood from his seat and walked over to the window.

 

“What would happen if I died tomorrow, and then my two childless sons died soon after? Who would inherit all of this?” Tywin asked staring out the window.

 

“The same boy who crashed that vehicle, what would he do with this corporation? It wouldn’t last a week…but that’s what happens, people die, things fade or get destroyed, so the one thing that will live on is family. Family is the most important thing in this world.” Tywin said turning to look at Gendry who narrowed his eyes looking baffled.

 

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and in came a tall skinny blond guy with pointed features who walked straight up to Tywin without even looking at Gendry.

 

It was the same guy that was following Gendry around at the Casterly Rock Hotel.

 

“Lancel, have you brought what I asked you to?” Tywin asked.

 

“Yes Sir, I analyzed the DNA sample I acquired and it is a definite match” He answered handing a folder to Tywin.

 

“Good work Lancel, I will arrange for you to start at the Kings Landing Cosmetic Research lab in a weeks’ time” Tywin said shooing Lancel away with his hand and returning to his grand leather chair.

 

He opened the file and looked over the information before looking back at Gendry.

 

“Have you ever seen your birth certificate?” Tywin asked.

 

“No” Gendry answered honestly.

 

“Here” Tywin said handing him a worn piece of paper. Curiosity gnawed inside his belly but he kept a calm demeanor as his eyes scanned it.   

 

It said Birth Certificate of Gendry Baratheon, under father’s name it read Robert Baratheon, no surpirse.

 

But under mother’s name it read Cersie Lannister Baratheon.

 

 

* * *

 

Arya's Hair and Makeup, pants, and jacket.  (really I just wanna dress Masie like this ;p)

 

  [  
](http://www.alexisdress.com/pic/a13/fashion-black-wing-biker-synthetic-leather-zipper-coat-jacket-punk-rock.jpg)

 

Gendry's Outfit 

 

 

Meera's Dress

 

Ygrittes dress and shoes 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All songs and Lyrics belong to these wonderful people.
> 
> The Tape: Karen O at Home Tracks 1 and 3  
> http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/K+O+At+Home/3105038
> 
> The Bastards: Arctic Monkeys- The Jewellers Hands  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rq0Ag15sAI
> 
> The Wildlings: Garbage- Run Baby Run  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obQvIxr6R5Y
> 
> Winterhell: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – no no no  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwR4KsOdR7Q


End file.
